Selections from Modern Poetsmade by J. C. Squire

This is a time capsule of British poetic ambition in the aftermath of the Great War. J. C. Squire, editor of the influential London Mercury, gathered what he considered the finest lyrical voices of his generation - poets who had come of age in an era of unprecedented upheaval. The anthology captures a specific literary moment: 1921, when the modernists were still breaking ground and Georgian poetry still held sway. Squire's preface reveals his passionate defense of the short lyric form, questioning why contemporary poets shied from ambitious long poems while championing those who achieved depth in brevity. What emerges is a portrait of early 20th-century British poetry in transition - between Victorian inheritance and modernist experiment. The collection matters because it shows us which voices were celebrated in their own moment, offering a window into literary taste before the canon solidified. For readers interested in how poetry's reputation is made and unmade, this is a fascinating artifact.