_Rivers to the Sea_ (1915) emphasizes this epigrammatic skill, but a greater restraint is here, a warmer spontaneity. The new collection contains at least a dozen unforgettable snatches, lyrics in which the words seem to fall into place without art or effort. Seldom employing metaphor or striking imagery, almost bare of ornament, these poems have the sheer magic of triumphant song. Theirs is an artlessness that is more than an art. _Love Songs_ (1917) is a collection of Miss Teasdale’s previous melodies for the _viola d’amore_ together with several new tunes. The new poems emphasize the way in which this poet achieves a direct enchantment without verbal subtleties. They also emphasize their superiority to the earlier love lyrics that were written in a mood of literary romance, of artificial moonlit roses, languishing lutes, balconies, passionate guitars—a mood that was not so much erotic as Pierrotic. _Flame and Shadow_ (1920) is by far the best of her books. Here the beauty is fuller and deeper; an almost mystic radiance plays from these starry verses. Technically, also, this volume marks Miss Teasdale’s greatest advance. The words are chosen with a keener sense of their actual as well as their musical values; the rhythms are much more subtle and varied; the line moves with a greater naturalness. Beneath the symbolism of poems like “Water Lilies” and “The Long Hill,” one is conscious of a finer artistry, a more flexible speech that is all the lovelier for its slight (and logical) irregularities. Besides her own books, Miss Teasdale has compiled an anthology, _The Answering Voice_ (1917), comprising one hundred love lyrics by women. NIGHT SONG AT AMALFI[46] I asked the heaven of stars What I should give my love— It answered me with silence, Silence above. I asked the darkened sea Down where the fishermen go— It answered me with silence, Silence below. Oh, I could give him weeping, Or I could give him song— But how can I give silence My whole life long? SPRING NIGHT[47] The park is filled with night and fog, The veils are drawn about the world, The drowsy lights along the paths Are dim and pearled. Gold and gleaming the empty streets, Gold and gleaming the misty lake, The mirrored lights like sunken swords, Glimmer and shake.