Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

INTRODUCTION . XV vides him with exquisite sensations , or even that he makes an inventory of these in exquisite language. The old business of the poet did not end with his apprehending this or that of universal truth , or with his being acutely affected by it, or even with his coming back and informing folks that he had fallen in love or had lost a friend, and that it was a tremendous ex perience . On top of all this he had to realise his self by losing it, to purge the personal out of his discovery, to re-clothe it, and to bring the universal back in a new embodiment which all men could recognise . To this the fine objective forms of the Drama and the Epic not only invited but compelled him . However difficult the task , he had to build , and to build solidly . The gushing ‘ O, that ' twere possible !' had to be captured , grasped and held until it became an Orpheus or a Hamlet , as the young men held Proteus until from running water he turned into a man again . To my thinking the common abnegation , in one day , of this most difficult part of the poet 's business may well account for the public neglect into which poetry has fallen as a pretty occupation for sensitive souls . Until we take the trouble to re - clothe it in con . crete forms — and the old forms lie ready to our hand , while new ones are well worth inventing — the virtuose may applaud , but we shall miss the catholic appeal of great art . This small but sufficient volume of Cambridge verse , written between 1900 and 1913 , proves at any rate that the poetic impulse abides and is strong in the University which , so justly proud of her poets , has really no excuse for resigning poetry as a lost glory .