Chapter XX

Recent English Poetry – 1

T

HE MOVEMENT away from the Victorian type in re-
cent and contemporary English poetry cannot be said to
have yet determined its final orientation. But we may
distinguish in its uncertain fluctuations, its attempts in this or
that direction certain notes, certain strong tones, certain original
indications which may help us to disengage the final whither of
its seekings. In the mass it appears as a broadening of the English
poetic mind into a full oneness with the great stream of mod-
ern thought and tendency, an opening up out of the narrower
Victorian insularity to admit a greater strength, subtlety and
many-sidedness of the intelligence. For this very reason it is still
in the nature of a very uncertain feeling out in several directions
which has not found itself and decided what shall be the centre
and guide of its inspiration. There are experiments of all kinds in
language and rhythm and subject and treatment, many notable
names each with his special turn and personality, but no supreme
decisive speech and no gathering up of the many threads into
a great representative work. The whole of European literature
at the present time is of this character; it is a fluid mass with
a hundred conflicting tendencies, a multitude of experiments,
many minor formations, which has not yet run into any clear
universal mould. All that can be done is to distinguish some
common characteristics of an indicative value which emerge in
the more significant work and have touched more or less the
performance of the lesser writers. Here we can get at least at a
certain persistent element, certain potential issues.
The thing that strikes at once in a general view is that it is a
period of transition, not yet a new age, but the preparation for a
new age of humanity. Everywhere there is a seeking after some
new thing, a discontent with the moulds, ideas and powers of
the past, a spirit of innovation, a desire to get at deeper powers