''A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry: English and American'' is an anthology of poetry, edited by

Oscar Williams Oscar Williams may refer to: * Oscar Williams (poet), American anthologist and poet * Oscar Williams (filmmaker), film actor, screenwriter and film director * Oscar Williams (cricketer), Antiguan cricketer See also * Oscar Randal-Williams Oscar ...

, which was published by Scribner's, New York, in

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, and Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. Another edition, enlarged and rearranged, was published in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

. In a letter to his friend Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams wrote: "But if you happen to stumble across Scribner's latest, ''A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry'', edited by O. Williams - look into it and die - of laughing. What a sell!" Geoffrey Hill's father bought him a copy of this anthology when Hill was about fifteen. He carried the book in his jacket pocket all around Worcestershire for several years until it disintegrated. He later recalled in a conversation with

John Haffenden John Haffenden (born 19 August 1945) is emeritus professor of English literature at the University of Sheffield. Education and positions held A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1st class, in English language and literature: Richard F ...

: "I think there was probably a time when I knew every poem in that anthology by heart." It was through this anthology that James Dickey came across the work of

Dunstan Thompson Dunstan Thompson (1918–1975) was an American poet who lived in Britain. A Catholic, he wrote openly about gay and wartime experiences. Life and career Thompson was born in New London, Connecticut, and educated at Harvard University.Gioia, D ...

, whose poem "Largo" displayed technical abilities that influenced Dickey's development.''Striking in: The Early Notebooks of James Dickey'', University of Missouri Press, 1996, , p. 103.

Poets in ''A Little Treasury of Modern Poetry'', 1947 edition

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

, Francis Thompson, James Stephens,

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, Delmore Schwartz,

Vernon Watkins Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 – 8 October 1967) was a Welsh poet and translator. His headmaster at Repton was Geoffrey Fisher, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite his parents being Nonconformists, Watkins' school experiences ...

, Stephen Spender, Conrad Aiken,

Henry Treece Henry Treece (22 December 1911 – 10 June 1966) was a British poet and writer who also worked as a teacher and editor. He wrote a range of works but is mostly remembered as a writer of children's historical novels. Life and work Treece wa ...

, George Barker,

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

Theodore Spencer Theodore Spencer (1902–1949) was an American poet and academic. Life He graduated from Princeton University in 1923, and a Ph.D from Harvard University in 1928. He then taught there, from 1927 to 1949. He was appointed lecturer in English lite ...

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

Léonie Adams Léonie Fuller Adams (December 9, 1899 – June 27, 1988) was an American poet. She was appointed the seventh Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1948. Biography Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in a ...

, Yvor Winters, Edwin Muir, W. R. Rodgers,

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

, R. P. Blackmur, Walter de la Mare,

W. J. Turner Walter James Redfern Turner (13 October 1884 – 18 November 1946) was an Australian-born, English-domiciled writer and critic.McKenna, C. W. F., (1990). nlineTurner, Walter James Redfern (1884–1946), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' ...

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet and playwright, and a member of the Auden Group, which also included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis. MacNeice's body of work was widely a ...

, Muriel Rukeyser, Albie Huston Evans,

Elinor Wylie Elinor Morton Wylie (September 7, 1885 – December 16, 1928) was an American poet and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. "She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensu ...

, Robert Penn Warren,

W. H. Davies William Henry Davies (3 July 1871 – 26 September 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer, who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and the United States, yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes inc ...

, Robert Bridges,

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

John Manifold John Streeter Manifold (21 April 1915 – 19 April 1985) was an Australian poet and critic. He was born in Melbourne, into a well known Camperdown family. He was educated at Geelong Grammar School, and read modern languages at Jesus College, C ...

, Geoffrey Grigson, Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, Robinson Jeffers, Helen Hoyt,

Maxwell Bodenheim Maxwell Bodenheim (May 26, 1892 – February 6, 1954) was an American poet and novelist. A literary figure in Chicago, he later went to New York where he became known as the King of Greenwich Village Bohemians. His writing brought him intern ...

, Patrick Orr,

Richard Eberhart Richard Ghormley Eberhart (April 5, 1904 – June 9, 2005) was an American poet who published more than a dozen books of poetry and approximately twenty works in total. "Richard Eberhart emerged out of the 1930s as a modern stylist with romanti ...

, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Allen Tate, Edgar Lee Masters,

John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...

John Hall Wheelock John Hall Wheelock (September 9, 1886 – March 22, 1978) was an American poet. He was a descendant of Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College. The son of William Efner Wheelock and Emily Charlotte Hall,Harold Monro, Mark Van Doren, John Peale Bishop,

Sidney Keyes Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (27 May 1922 – 29 April 1943) was an English poet of World War II. Life Early years and education Keyes was born on 27 May 1922. His mother died shortly afterwards and he was raised by his paternal grandparent ...

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

Frederic Prokosch Frederic Prokosch (May 17, 1906 – June 2, 1989) was an American writer, known for his novels, poetry, memoirs and criticism. He was also a distinguished translator. Biography Prokosch was born in Madison, Wisconsin, into an intellectual family ...

, Julian Symons,

Karl Shapiro Karl Jay Shapiro (November 10, 1913 – May 14, 2000) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1945 for his collection ''V-Letter and Other Poems''. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to th ...

F. T. Prince Frank Templeton Prince (13 September 1912 – 7 August 2003) was a British poet and academic, known generally for his best-known poem ''Soldiers Bathing'', written during the Second World War in 1942, which has been frequently included in antholog ...

, Wilfred Owen, Alan Seeger,

Roy Fuller Roy Broadbent Fuller CBE (11 February 1912 – 27 September 1991) was an English writer, known mostly as a poet. He was born at Failsworth, Lancashire to lower-middle-class parents Leopold Charles Fuller and his wife Nellie (1888–1949; née ...

Shaemas O'Sheel Shaemas O'Sheel (September 19, 1886 – April 2, 1954) was an Irish American poet and critic. Born James Shields,O'Sheel, Shaemas, and Sophocles. ''Antigone'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961, p.8 he changed his name to an anglicized spell ...

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

, Winfield Townley Scott,

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

Isaac Rosenberg Isaac Rosenberg (25 November 1890 – 1 April 1918) was an English poet and artist. His ''Poems from the Trenches'' are recognized as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War. Early life Isaac Rosenberg was born ...

, Edith Sitwell, Marianne Moore, Rolfe Humphries,

, Jean Garrigue,

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

Gene Derwood Gene Derwood (1909–1954) was an American poet, painter and wife of the poet and anthologist Oscar Williams. Life The couple lived in a penthouse of an office building at 35 Water Street, Lower Manhattan. The Lilly Library of Indiana Universi ...

, Alex Comfort, Timothy Corsellis, Alun Lewis, Lawrence Durrell, Archibald MacLeish, John Masefield,

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

, Glenway Wescott, Marshall Schact,

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

, Sara Teasdale, Esther Mathews,

A. E. Coppard Alfred Edgar Coppard (4 January 187813 January 1957) was an English author, noted for his poetry and short stories. Life Coppard was born the son of a tailor and a housemaid in Folkestone, and had little formal education. Coppard grew up in ...

, Louise Bogan, John Thompson, Jr,

H. D. Hilda Doolittle (September 10, 1886 – September 27, 1961) was an American modernist poet, novelist, and memoirist who wrote under the name H.D. throughout her life. Her career began in 1911 after she moved to London and co-founded the ...

, James Joyce, Anne Ridler,

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, Edwin Denby, Michael Roberts, Edward Thomas, John Drinkwater, Edith Wyatt, George Santayana, D. S. Savage, William Empson,

Hildegarde Flanner June Hildegarde Flanner (June 3, 1899 – May 27, 1987) was an American poet, essayist, playwright and conservationist. Early years June Hildegarde Flanner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Frank Flanner and Mary Ellen Hockett. She had two ...

, Edwin Markham, Vachel Lindsay, Ben Maddow, Alfred Hayes, William Carlos Williams, Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn, Roy Campbell, Terence Heywood, John Davidson, Ralph Hodgson, Rudyard Kipling, Peter Quennell,

F. R. Higgins Frederick Robert Higgins (24 April 1896 – 6 January 1941) was an Irish poet and theatre director. Early years Higgins was born on the west coast of Ireland in Foxford, which is located in County Mayo. He was the eldest son of Joseph and Annie ...

, John Malcolm Brinnin,

Frances Cornford Frances Crofts Cornford (née Darwin; 30 March 1886 – 19 August 1960) was an English poet. Life She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Newnham College fellow Ellen Wordsworth Crofts (1856-1903), and born into the Darwin ...

, H. H. Lewis,

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

, E. V. Swart,

Philip O'Connor __NOTOC__ __NOTOC__ Philip Marie Constant Bancroft O'Connor (8 September 1916 – 29 May 1998) was a British writer and surrealist poet, who also painted. He was one of the 'Wheatsheaf writers' of 1930s Fitzrovia (who took their name from a pub). ...

, Ogden Nash, David Daiches, Kenneth Fearing, W. S. Gilbert, Marsden Hartley, Geoffrey Taylor, Gelett Burgess, Gavin Ewart, Arnold Bennett, C. D. B. Ellis, Gertrude Stein, Anthony Euwer, " Emanuel Morgan", Harry Graham,

Oliver St. John Gogarty Oliver Joseph St. John Gogarty (17 August 1878 – 22 September 1957) was an Irish poet, author, otolaryngologist, athlete, politician, and well-known conversationalist. He served as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel ...

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Treasury of Modern Poetry 1946 poetry books American poetry anthologies British poetry anthologies Irish poetry anthologies