JAPANESE LACQUER 159 SAPPHO REDIVIVA 168 THE POETRY OF GERARD HOPKINS 180 PHILOSOPHICAL TENDENCIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 186 TWO LECTURES ON ENGLISH POETRY: THE BALLAD 197 THE SONNET 203 GILBERT K. CHESTERTON AND HIS POETRY 222 LIONEL JOHNSON, ERNEST DOWSON, AUBREY BEARDSLEY 237 SWINBURNE AND FRANCIS THOMPSON 253 A NOTE ON THOMAS HARDY 268 MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN 275 FRANCIS THOMPSON 282 JOHN MASEFIELD 288 WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY 302 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION I Since last I took up my pen in the service of my friend who on July 30, 1918, laid down his sword in the service of his country, fame, and yet greater fame, has been busy with his name. Any further eulogy by my hand would have only the point of being altogether superfluous and the foolish effect of being very much at the rear of the situation. Further, the story of Joyce Kilmer, doubtless in very fair measure, is known to nearly everyone. An account of his career is not to be appreciably elaborated here. There are, however, some facts in explanation of the appearance of this volume at this time which require to be set down. And a number of circumstances in relation to the material here collected may be told, I think, to general interest. With these matters I am probably as familiar as anyone, and so have the great privilege of undertaking to record them. The ten highly humorous and altogether charming essays which form the first part of this volume have led a rather queer life so far--though I think their existence will be a very happy one from now on. First, they were not "essays" at the time of their birth. They came into the world as "articles." So they were spoken of by the young journalist who at various times and with very little to do about the matter wrote them in the course of a bewildering variety of other activities. Or, to be still more frank, he was perhaps more apt to refer to them, when he did refer to them at all, as "Sunday stories," done as a part of his job with the _New York Times Sunday Magazine_. What they were called, however, is neither here nor there. The thing is that they are here.