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Site Information: Accepting the principle that a discussion of
the canonization of literary texts can never be separated from a discussion
of the ways in which they were published, circulated, and put to use in
the schools, this site aims to provide a historical and theoretical context
for the still-contested canon of English poetry. One purpose, then, is
to allow users to see how poets, and indeed even poetry in general, have
been received by a reading public since the 18th century.[1]
To that end, these pages contain Tables of Contents (TOC) for anthologies,
miscellanies (including the Dodsley
Group), and beauties volumes of English poetry,
which might be put to any number of uses: for example, one can compare
the contents of any number of late 20th century anthologies, whether general,
as in the Norton, or field-specific, as in the recent spate of collections
of Romantic and Victorian
poetry, in order to see how each age and even how each volume shapes period,
canon, and the distinctions between "major" and "minor"
writers. This last distinction is quite often visible in the basic categorical
differences between anthologies on the one hand, and all other types of
collections on the other, for it is in the one that we read poems of excellence,
the "best of English poetry," and it is in the other that we
read poems of interest. Out of the differences between a principle of
selection (the anthology) and a principle of collection (miscellanies
and beauties), then, comes a difference in aesthetic value, which is precisely
what is at issue in the debates over the "proper" material for
inclusion into the canon. Finally, this site also functions as a kind
of anthology itself; we are not digital archivists per se -- though we
have tried to be as broadly inclusive as possible -- and in the end what
we have compiled is a list of texts, generally selected because they are
somehow representative of critical tradition, of genre, of 'the spirit
of an age,' of epistemological ruptures.
Note: As of September 1997,
this page is now linked to and overlaps with Romantic Circles'
Anthologies Page, edited by Harriet Linkin, Laura Mandell, and Rita
Raley.
Theoretical Apparatus: For a further summary and analysis of the
categories we employ in these pages and for a theoretical meditation on
the distinctions among them, see the site philosophy.
Also relevant is the web site Romantic
Canons: A Bibliography (and an argument) (Laura Mandell).
Technical Note: We have reproduced these TOC as exactly as we
were able and have done what we could to make these web pages look like
the printed pages themselves. These lists may also be viewed alphabetically
by editor (where known) and in chronological
order. Another sub-page lists those volumes designed for use
in the schools. With the help of other contributors, we have begun
expanding the historical perimeters of this site in a sub-page on period
anthologies.
Search the Site:We have search engines in operation for two archives
attached to this site: one at UC
Santa Barbara and one at Miami University.
Contributions, suggestions, and corrections are welcome:
Laura Mandell <mandellc@muohio.edu>
and Rita Raley <raley
at english.ucsb.edu>
Last Revised: November 4, 2002
(six volumes or fewer; larger collections are listed below):
- George Ellis, Specimens
of the Early English Poets (1790)
- Joseph Ritson, The English Anthology
(1793-4; 3 volumes)
- Samuel Pratt, The Cabinet of Poetry
(1808; 6 volumes)
- Specimens
of the British Poets from Lord Surrey to Cowper (1809)
- Thomas Campbell, Specimens
of the British Poets; With Biographical and Critical Notices, and An
Essay on English Poetry (1819)
- John Aikin, Select Works of the British Poets
(1820)
- The British
Anthology; or Poetical Library (1824)
- William Hazlitt, Select
British Poets, or New Elegant Extracts from Chaucer to the Present Time,
With Critical Remarks (1824)
- George Croly, The Beauties of the British
Poets (1828)
- Robert Southey, Select Works of the British
Poets, from Chaucer to Jonson, with Biographical Sketches (1831)
- Readings in Poetry: A Selection
from the Best English Poets, from Spenser to the present times;
and Specimens of Several American Poets of Deserved Reputation (1833)
- Samuel Carter Hall, The Book of Gems (1836-38;
3 volumes)
- Readings in Poetry: A Selection
from the Best English Poets, from Spenser to the Present Times;
and speciments of several American poets (7th edition; 1843)
- John Frost, Select Works of the British Poets
(1845-6)
- George Gilfillan, The Book of British
Poesy, ancient and modern (1851)
- Francis Turner Palgrave, The Golden treasury of the best songs
and lyrical poems in the English language (1861)
- William and Robert Chambers, Chambers's
Reading in English Poetry (1865)
- Thomas Humphry Ward, The English Poets
(1883; 4 volumes)
- Robert Inglis, Gleanings from the English
Poets, Chaucer to Tennyson (1881)
- Charlotte Fiske Bates, The Cambridge Book
of Poetry and Song (1882)
- Edmund Clarence Stedman, A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895 (1896)
- Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Oxford book of English verse, 1250-1900
(1900)
- R. Dodsley, comp., A Collection of Poems. By Several Hands. In
Three Volumes (1748) [2]
- ---. In Four Volumes (1755)
- ---. In Six Volumes (1758)
- ---. A Collection
of Poems. A new, corrected ed. with notes by Isaac Reed. 6 vols.
(1782)
- Richardson and Urquhart, comps., A
Collection of the Most Esteemed Pieces of Poetry, . . . . By the Late
Moses Mendez, Esq., and other Contributors to Dodsley's Collection
(1767)
- George Pearch, comp., A
Collection of Poems in Two Volumes. By Several Hands (1768)
- John Nichols, comp., A
Select Collection of Poems: With Notes, Biographical and Historical
(1780-1782)
- Elizabeth Cooper, The
Muses [sic.] Library (1737)
- A Collection of Miscellany Poems,
never before Publish'd (1737)
- Thomas Hayward, comp.; William Oldys, Intro., The
British Muse, or A Collection of Thoughts Moral, Natural, and Sublime,
of our English Poets (1738)
- James Elphinstone, A Collection of Poems from the best Authors
(1764)
- A Select Collection of Poems, from
the most approved authors (1772)
- James Landells, A Collection of Prose and Verse, selected from
the most eminent authors (1782)
- Joseph Retzer, Choice of the Best Poetical
Pieces (1783-86; 6 volumes)
- Henry Headley, Select
Beauties of Ancient English Poetry (1787)
- Select Collection
of Poems, From Admired Authors and Scarce Miscellanies (1790)
- A Collection of Several Stories,
Moral Tales, and Reflections taken from the best English Authors
for the use of those who learn the English Tongue (1788)
- Robert Southey, comp., The
Annual Anthology (1799, 1800)
- William Mavor and Samuel Pratt, Classical
English Poetry, for the Use of Schools (1801)
- Flowers of British Poetry (1802)
- Maria Riddell, The Metrical Miscellany
(1802)
- John Wolcot, The Beauties of English Poetry
(1804)
- Robert Southey, Specimens of the Later
English Poets, with preliminary notices (1807; 3 volumes)
- Duncan Donaldson, The British Miscellany
(1808)
- The Monitor; A Select Collection of Poems on the Most Important
Subjects (1808)
- Vicesimus Knox, Elegant Extracts: or, useful
and entertaining Pieces of Poetry (1809)
- Sir Walter Scott, English Minstrelsy.
Being a selection of fugitive poetry from the best English authors;
with some original pieces hitherto unpublished (1810; 2 volumes)
- Poetical
Selections Consisting of the Most Approved Pieces of our Best British
Poets (1811) (another version
of the same volume)
- Thomas Park, Heliconia: Comprising
a Selection of English Poetry of the Elizabethan Age (1815; 3 volumes)
- Elizabeth Mant, The Parent's Poetical Anthology:
Being a Selection of English Poems primarily designed to assist in forming
the taste and the sentiments of young readers (1821)
- John Pennie, The Harp of Parnassus: A
New Selection of Classical English Poetry (1822)
- Elizabeth Scott, Specimens of British Poetry
(1823)
- The Wreath: A Collection of Poems
from Celebrated English Authors (1824)
- The Bijou;
Or Annual of Literature and the Arts (1828)
- Mrs. Blencowe, The Casket, a Miscellany
consisting of Unpublished Poems (1829)
- William Thackeray, The Selector; consisting
of an original selection of English Poetry (1831)
- George Fulcher, Fulcher's Poetical Miscellany
(1841)
- K., Gift Book of Poetry (1843)
- Leigh Hunt, Imagination and Fancy; or Selections
from the Best English Poets (1844)
- William Elwell, The British Lyre; or Selections
from the English Poets (1857; 3rd edition)
- James Dix, Poets' Corner in Germany
(1869)
- M.J.D., Readings with the Poets (1871)
- The Girls' Book of Poetry. A Selection
of Short Pieces, Lyrical, Descriptive, Pathetic and Narrative (1883)
- The Boys' Book of Poetry (1884)
- Thomas Janes, The
Beauties of the Poets: Being a Collection of Moral and Sacred Poetry
(1777)
- J. Ireland, Beauties in Prose and Verse:
or, the new, pleasing, and entertaining collection, selected from the
most eminent English Authors (1784)
- Sidney Melmouth, Beauties
of British Poetry (1803)
- Angelo Vergani, The Beauties of English
Poetry (1803)
- John Evans, The Parnassian Garland; or,
Beauties of Modern Poetry (1807)
- Alexandre Spiers, Study of English Poetry
(1835)
[1] A few things about this need qualification: first,
what exactly constitutes a "reading public" is of course far
from uniform in the years around 1800 and a thorough chronicle of this
would involve the dual project of investigating the history of the standardization
of a particular vernacular as the national language (here Standard English,
what would be the object of a kind of litmus test for literacy), on the
one hand, and investigating the whole history of education reforms and
and transformations in print culture, on the other. Analyzing the audience
for each separate text included here is beyond the scope of this site,
other than to make a few general pronouncements about the audiences for
anthologies and miscellanies as a whole.
Finally, we hope evenually to increase the historical breadth of this
site, so that it reaches back to earlier collections and is brought up
into the 20th century as well. As it is, we have begun in a period roughly
coterminous with our separate research interests: that of the 18th
and 19th centuries, though the site is now broadening its perimeters and
becoming more concerned with the history of anthologies and miscellanies
in general -- see, for example, our sub-page on period
anthologies.
[2] Harold Forster, Supplements to Dodsley's Collections
of Poems (Oxford: Oxford Bibliographical Society, 1980).
Laura Mandell, Miami
University
Rita
Raley, University of California, Santa Barbara
Page Created: March 1997
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