In English prose, together with translations from Bion and Moschus, by Andrew Lang, in the _Golden Treasury Series_. Theocritus is translated into excellent English verse by the poet, C. S. Calverley. JAMES THOMSON (1700-48). _The Castle of Indolence._ _The Seasons._ Dimmed but not displaced by later poets of nature. Thomson may be read first in the anthologies, from which now and again a sincere admirer will be sent to his complete works. JAMES THOMSON (1834-82). _The City of Dreadful Night._ A remarkable poet, easily among those whom we think of as next to the greatest poets. Professor William James calls “The City of Dreadful Night” “that pathetic book,” “which I think is less well known than it should be for its literary beauty, simply because men are afraid to quote its words--they are so gloomy, and at the same time so sincere.” FRANCIS THOMPSON (1859-1907). _The Hound of Heaven._ This poet, lately dead, has surely taken his place among the true voices of English poetry. HENRY VAUGHAN (1622-95). _Poems._ In the Aldine Edition (Macmillan). VERGIL (70-19 B.C.). _Eclogues._ _Georgics._ _Æneid._ In Conington’s prose translation. The poetic version of William Morris is spirited and fluent. JOHN WEBSTER (lived in the Elizabethan age). _Dramas._ In the _Mermaid Series_. WALT WHITMAN (1819-92). _Leaves of Grass._ Whitman’s poetry is complete in one volume, published by Small, Maynard & Co. The most powerful of American poets. The young reader should begin with the patriotic pieces and the poems of nature in the sections entitled “Sea-Drift,” “By the Roadside,” “Drum Taps,” “Memories of President Lincoln,” “Whispers of Heavenly Death.” JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1807-92). _Complete Poetical Works._ In the Cambridge Edition. Widely loved in America for his popular ballads and songs of common things. In his poems of liberty and in poems of religious sympathy and faith, the true passion of the poet overcomes the technical limitations of his verse and results in pure poetry. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850). _Complete Poetical Works._ In the Globe Edition. The true Wordsworthian believes with Robert Southey that “a greater poet than Wordsworth there never has been nor ever will be.” A serene voice that swelled increasingly through a troubled century, and is more and more felt to have uttered the essential ideas needed in these hundred years. Yet much of Wordsworth is less than poetic, and the new reader should seek him first in the selections edited by Matthew Arnold in the _Golden Treasury Series_. [Illustration: WORDSWORTH] FOOTNOTES: [1] See page 56. [2] See pages 251-4. CHAPTER VII THE READING OF HISTORY