John and the Faun, by George Edward Woodberry 28 School, by Percy MacKaye 30 The Marvelous Munchausen, by William Rose Benét 34 Train-mates, by Witter Bynner 38 The Kallyope Yell, by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay 39 Thanksgiving For Our Task, by Shaemas OSheel 43 A Likeness, by Willa Sibert Cather 46 The Field of Glory, by Edwin Arlington Robinson 48 Rich Man, Poor Man--, by Francis Hill 49 The Sin Eater, by Ruth Comfort Mitchell 50 Night-sentries, by George Sterling 52 The Swordless Christ, by Percy Adams Hutchison 54 What of the Night?, by Willard Huntington Wright 55 A Threnody, by Louis V. Ledoux 57 November, by Mahlon Leonard Fisher 61 Salutation, by Ruth Sterry 62 Here Lies Pierrot, by Richard Burton 62 List of “Distinctive Poems,” Their Authors, and the Magazines in Which They Appeared 64 The “Best Poems” Chosen from the “Distinctive” List 69 Titles and Authors of All Poems Appearing in the Seven Magazines For 1918 71 Index of First Lines 99 INTRODUCTION Poetry is one of the realities that persist. The façade and dome of palace and temple, the monuments of heroes and saints, crumble before the ruining breath of time, while the Psalms last. So when another year passes and we sum up our achievements, there is no achievement more vital in registering the soul of a people than its poetry. But in all things that men do, their relationship is objective except those things in which art, religion, love, and nature express their influence through the private thoughts and feelings of men. These four things are the realities, all the others are symbols. And the essence of art, as well as religion and love and nature, is a conscious and mysterious thing, called Poetry. And men will find, if they will only stop to look, that at the bottom of all this poetry, no matter what the theme or the particular artistic shaping, there is something with which they are familiar, because in their own souls there has been an unceasing mystery which they find named in the magic utterance of some lonely and neglected maker of verses.