James Baldwin's Six Centuries of English Poetry is not a neutral anthology but a carefully curated classroom text, first published in 1892. The editor's presence is felt from the opening note, where he distinguishes the study of literature from its history, asserting that the former is 'more interesting' than the latter. This pedagogical aim shapes every choice: poems are selected for their representativeness and moral or formal worth, and each is followed by explanatory notes, biographical sketches, and lists of 'Other Poems to be Read.' The volume's structure—moving backward from Tennyson to Chaucer—reflects a deliberate strategy to lead students from the familiar to the remote, making the older poets accessible through the lens of their successors.

The Editor's Guiding Voice

Baldwin's commentary is as instructive as the poems themselves. In the note on Pope, he quotes Stopford Brooke calling Pope 'our greatest master in didactic poetry' and Mark Pattison praising his 'condensing and pointing his meaning.' These external authorities reinforce Baldwin's own emphasis on formal craftsmanship. The biographical sketch of Pope is notably blunt: 'He was small of stature and deformed, and his ill health made him peevish, irritable, and selfish.' Such frankness is typical; Baldwin does not shy from human flaws, yet he balances them with praise for intellectual abilities and friendships. This dual perspective—acknowledging the person while elevating the work—gives the notes a distinctive, teacherly tone.

Arrangement as Argument

The anthology's reverse chronology is itself a critical statement. By beginning with Tennyson and ending with Chaucer, Baldwin invites readers to trace influences backward, seeing how later poets echo or transform earlier conventions. The section on 'The Seventeenth Century' includes a passage describing readers 'weary of liberty, weary of the unmitigated rage of the dramatists, cloyed with the roses and the spices and the kisses of the lyrists.' This characterization sets up the Augustan response as a necessary corrective. The notes frequently cross-reference poems: Pope's lines are compared to Congreve, Collins, and Wordsworth; the Orpheus myth appears in both Milton and Pope. Such interconnections turn the volume into a web of allusions, rewarding sequential reading.

Pace and Pedagogical Rhythm

Baldwin controls the reader's pace through varied apparatus. Each poet receives a biographical note, explanatory footnotes, and a list of further readings. The notes on Pope's 'Ode on St. Cecilia's Day' gloss mythological references (Rhodope, Hæmus) and cite parallel passages from Milton and Congreve. This slows the reading, forcing attention to detail. In contrast, the introductory essays—like the one on Anglo-Saxon poetry—move briskly, covering centuries in a few paragraphs. The result is a rhythm of concentrated analysis and broad survey, designed for classroom use where time is limited. The final 'References' sections point to Johnson, Stephen, De Quincey, and Lowell, inviting independent study beyond the anthology's bounds.

Readers approaching Six Centuries of English Poetry should treat it as a period artifact: a late-Victorian educator's attempt to build literary taste through representative sampling and guided commentary. The anthology rewards those who read the notes as carefully as the poems, observing how Baldwin's judgments reflect his era's values. For modern readers, the volume offers a window into how English poetry was taught and canonized at the turn of the twentieth century.