E-text prepared by Meredith Bach and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/futureofenglishp00gossuoft The English Association Pamphlet No. 25 THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY by EDMUND GOSSE, C.B. June, 1913 A copy of this pamphlet is supplied to all full members of the Association. They can obtain further copies (price 1_s._) on application to the Secretary, Mr. A. V. Houghton, Imperial College Union, South Kensington, London, S.W. The English Association Pamphlet No. 25 THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY by EDMUND GOSSE, C.B. June, 1913 THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH POETRY J'ai vu le cheval rose ouvrir ses ailes d'or, Et, flairant le laurier que je tenais encor, Verdoyant à jamais, hier comme aujourd'hui, Se cabrer vers le Jour et ruer vers la Nuit. HENRI DE RÉGNIER. In venturing this afternoon to address an audience accustomed to listen to those whose positive authority is universally recognized, and in taking for my theme a subject not, like theirs, distinct in its definitions or consecrated by tradition and history, I am aware that I perform what you may, if you choose, call an act of blameworthy audacity. My subject is chimerical, vague, and founded on conjectures which you may well believe yourselves at least as well fitted as I am to propound. Nevertheless, and in no rash or paradoxical spirit, I invite you to join with me in some reflections on what is the probable course of English poetry during, let us say, the next hundred years. If I happen to be right, I hope some of the youngest persons present will say, when I am long turned to dust, what an illuminating prophet I was. If I happen to be wrong, why, no one will remember anything at all about the matter. In any case we may possibly be rewarded this afternoon by some agreeable hopes and by the contemplation of some pleasant analogies.