By way of explaining this neglect of all American culture I will quote from a recent advertisement of the _Britannica_. “We Americans,” it says, in a most intimate and condescending manner, “have had a deep sense of self-sufficiency. We haven’t had time or inclination to know how the rest of the world lived. But now we _must_ know.” And let it be said for the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ that it has done all in its power to discourage us in this self-sufficiency. IV POETRY In the field of poetry the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ comes nearer being a competent reference library than in the field of painting, fiction, or drama. This fact, however, is not due to a spirit of fairness on the part of the Encyclopædia’s editors so much as to the actual superiority of English poetry. In this field England has led the world. It is the one branch of culture in which modern England stands highest. France surpasses her in painting and in fiction, and Germany in music and the drama. But Great Britain is without a rival in poetry. Therefore, despite the fact that the Encyclopædia is just as biased in dealing with this subject as it is in dealing with other cultural subjects, England’s pre-eminence tends to reduce in this instance that insular prejudice which distorts the _Britannica’s_ treatment of arts and letters. But even granting this superiority, the Encyclopædia is neglectful of the poets of other nations; and while it comes nearer the truth in setting forth the glories of English prosody, it fails here as elsewhere in being an international reference book of any marked value. There is considerable and unnecessary exaggeration of the merits of British poets, even of second- and third-rate British poets. Evangelical criticism predominates, and respectability is the measure of merit. Furthermore, the true value of poetry in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United States is minimized, and many writers of these countries who unquestionably should have a place in an encyclopædia as large as the _Britannica_, are omitted. Especially is this true in the case of the United States, which stands second only to Great Britain in the quantity and quality of its modern poetry.