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1、EssaysinCriticism53(3)©OxfordUniversityPress2003;allrightsreservedBookReviewINTHEPOETS’CORNERTraditionandtheIndividualPoem:AnInquiryintoAnthologies.ByANNEFERRY.StanfordUniversityPress,2001;$45.In1895theAmericancriticEdmundClarenceStedmanpublishedapoetrycollectionentitledAVictorianA
2、nthology.Victoria’sreignhadnot,ofcourse,endedyet,buttheantholo-gistpromisedtogivereadersadefinitivelookataneraof‘imaginativefertilityunequalledsincethe“spaciousdays”oftheVirginQueen’.Thestatementisremarkablebothforitsambitionanditsrhetoricalcompression;thecreativepowerofanage,andof
3、abookembodyingtheage,canonlyberepre-sentedadequately,Stedmanimplies,byplottingthespatialqualitiesoftime.Thephraseharksback,throughTennyson’sownsceneofvisionaryreadinginADreamofFairWomen,totheageofChaucer,...thefirstwarbler,whosesweetbreathPreludedthosemelodiousburststhatfillThespac
4、ioustimesofgreatElizabethWithsoundsthatechostill.Allusionconjuresonepoet,whointurnremembersanother,whosepastisprologuetothepredecessorsofthefirst.Misquotationisatworkheretoo:Stedman’s‘spaciousdays’isgivencasually,asfromanauthorialmemorysteepedinpoetictraditionbutboldenoughtoamendit
5、.Theanthologybecomes,byanalogy,aportaltoimaginativecontactwiththetouchstonesofpoetry.Andtheanthologistdidnotrelymerelyonwordstobringhomehispoint:thevolume’stitlepagewasfacedbyaphotographofWestminsterAbbey’sPoets’Corner.Notjustanystones,these.AnneFerrybeginsherlatestbookwiththepremi
6、sethatanthologiessuchasStedman’sshapenotonlyhowpoemsare295296ESSAYSINCRITICISMread,buthowtheyaremade,andhowtheyaltertheliterarytraditionthatreceivesthem.Hercogentandthoroughenquiryfollowsthroughonthatpremise,balancinganattentiontoanthologieswithgracefulreadingsofthepoemswithintheir
7、pagesandcoveringvastliteraryandhistoricalgroundwithoutbeingreductive.FromRichardTottel’sSongesandSonnettes(1557)toChristopherRicks’sTheOxfordBookofEnglishVerse(1999),Ferrypresentsacompellingcastofcharacters.AmongthemwefindTottel,whoworkedwithinacultureofprivatemanuscriptgatherings,
8、butwhointitlingandaltering
