Poems of Philip Henry Savage / Philip Henry Savage [electronic text]

PREFACE

Philip Henry Savage published, during his lifetime, two small books of verse, FIRST POEMS AND FRAGMENTS, which appeared in 1895, and POEMS, issued in 1898. The present volume is a reprint of these books, with the addition of the best poems found in his portfolio after his death. Of the posthumous poems a few, marred by imperfections of sense or of versification, have been slightly pruned; but omissions have been in each case indicated by asterisks. The reader may rest assured that Savage's intentions have not been tampered with, though it is of course often questionable whether he himself would have considered fragmentary pieces worth printing at all. The Editor's plan has been not to omit a characteristic piece merely because of flaws, nor on the other hand to print anything that does not in some way contribute to the total impression of the writer's personality. Some poems written before the publication of the two books and included in neither, have been admitted because they seemed to contribute to that impression.

The frontispiece portrait is from a negative taken by the Editor during the winter preceding Savage's death. It has been chosen for reproduction here, in spite of its exaggeration of the sadness of his face and its scant justice

to his good looks, because, on the whole, it gives his expression, at once tentative and serious, rather more vividly than any other. It has much more value as a mental than as a physical portrait.

The Editor wishes to express here his appreciation of the unfailing courtesy and generosity of his friend's family in putting papers at his disposal, and in every way forwarding his work.