Popular Poetry•Popular VerseVolume II Verse of some kind seems to be common to all historicalcultures. It begins as a craft, a way of ordering knowledge and experience foreasy memorizing and maximum impact. However, as it is practiced for its ownsake it becomes something more. The play of sound and rhythm with observationand narrative, of vocabulary and syntax with thought and feeling and metaphor,can develop such a grace and complexity and precision that we have to call itsomething different. It becomes poetry. And of all the languages of the world,English is, by common consent, the richest and most deeply worked mine for thismost precious commodity. However, not all the verse that sticks in the mind istwenty-two carat poetry. Some of our best loved versifiers – notably Victorianones – indefatigably shoveled out irredeemably low-grade ore which theyfashioned into inspiring, moralizing or sentimental recitation pieces. Thesebecame, however, so highly valued that they have acquired the warm and glowingsheen of sheer familiarity. They constitute, in fact, some of our favoriteverse. Children used to be made to learn them by heart, and somewhere in themind, if not the heart, they remain. This is, after all, what verse is designedto do – to be remembered. The result is that while our poetic tradition has itsroomfuls of glass fronted display cabinets crammed with priceless heirlooms, italso has its lumber-room. And sometimes the lumber-room is where we want to be– turning up dusty, half-forgotten toys and treasures and nick-knacks, long-neglectedbut once lovingly displayed on a crowded mantelpiece. For this collection we have dusted down a few of these oldfavorites from the lumber-room, but at the same time we have had to recognizethat some of them show their age, and don’t appear to their best advantagealongside the real collectors’ items, the pieces that are quite untouched bytime. Further, the effect of time on some of the poetic brassware of theVictorian age is that it leaves on it nice verdigris of irony. And while thisirony is an essential part of our appreciation of these very heavy pieces, wedon’t want it to spread and interfere with the finely balanced and delicatelytraced effects of the real poetry.So instead of organizing this anthology alphabetically oraltogether chronologically, or even according to subject matter, we have takenthe unfashionable step of dividing up our material according to the poeticambition and achievement embodied in each piece. To the lumber-room collectionwe have added lightweight verse from earlier ages, together with one or twoclassic examples of what is called ‘light verse’. This then leaves the poetry,which really is in a class of its own – but also carried in our minds ashalf-remembered scraps – where it belongs: in a class of its own. As with all such principles of organization there areborderline cases, which in themselves might seem to make nonsense of the wholeexercise, particularly perhaps with the Elizabethans. However, the great poetswho kick off the ‘favorite verse’ collection – Marlowe, Raleigh and Shakespeare– are here in relaxed, expansive mood. By contrast, the otherwise unknown poetChidiock Tichborne, whose ‘Elegy’ opens the batting for the ‘favorite poetry’collection along with another poet who faced execution on the block, ThomasWyatt, well illustrate Dr. Johnson’s maxim that death concentrates the mind wonderfully. Our hope is that thesetwo collections, in their different ways, will remind the listener of at leastsome of the rewards and pleasures we have inherited in our great poetry and oursplendid verse. Notes by Duncan Steen About the Readers TONY BRITTON began his long theater career at the age ofeighteen and has since performed all of over Britain and in the West End,including leading roles in My Fair Lady and Gigi. He has appeared with theRoyal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre in Twelfth Night and Henry V.He frequently appears at Chichester both as an actor and director. He is alsowell known for his numerous television credits including Don’t Wait Up. JASPER BRITTON played the lead role in the Regents Park OpenAir Theatre production of Richard III and has also worked for the RoyalNational Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Britton’s televisioncredits include The Bill and Peak Practice. EMMA FIELDING trained at RSAMD. She has worked for the RoyalNational Theatre in Arcadia and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Twelfth Nightand John Ford’s The Broken Heart for which she won the Dame Peggy AshcroftAward for Best Actress and the Ian Charleson Award. Fielding has also appearedin numerous radio plays for the BBC.