Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

THERE have been periods when labour was joyful and beautiful, and the poet sang because the community required his song: he expressed the keen and natural emotions of life. Today the community must disguise rather than express its emotions; the best poetry of the time is the poetry of despair, a cry of the lost: the expression of our joy has fallen into the hands of literary tinkers and pedlars, or it is muffled in the roar of cities.

Time is ripe for the forging of a weapon of criticism, and for an emphatic enunciation of literary standards. Poetry should be, once more, seriously and reverently discussed in its relation to life, and the same tests and criteria be applied to it as to the other arts.

This periodical will aim not so much at producing poetry as at stimulating the desire for it. We shall strive to create an atmosphere. We shall attempt to co-ordinate the bases of thought from which poetry at last emerges. We shall seek to encourage the poets, and dissuade the poetasters from rushing into print. We believe the multiplicity of useless books a most melancholy weakness of the time, and we deplore the loss of an instinct for appreciation, and the consuming appetite for self-expression.

But we do not believe in destructiveness, nor do we propose to waste our energy in deploring what is, and thundering what might be. We shall try to avoid platitudes and windy denunciations: our attitude is that of the smiling philosopher. We shall discuss, not rant and quibble: we are earnest, but not too grave. Above all we hope we shall never be dull.

Poetry is said to be unpopular — generally by those who dislike it themselves. Good poetry is as much read now as at any time since the invention of printing, and bad poetry is certainly read a great deal too much. Discrimination might well be inculcated, but poetry cannot be popularized. The good might be more appreciated, the bad less read, and the merely mediocre should be always ignored.

Poetry is the finer essence of thought, the vivid expression of personality; it is never the mere product of literary skill and craftsmanship. Therefore we believe in personality before we believe in books, and in life rather than in letters. We admire sincerity more than originality; we are not deceived by names: we believe in the matter rather than the signature.

Printing has been called the greatest enemy of literature. We ourselves believe in specialization and concentration, and we only desire to exist as a Review in so far as we can contribute to the fulfilment of a purpose. That purpose, however, we do not wish to flaunt before our readers. We are not seeking to rush in upon them, and obtrude ourselves noisily on their days. They indeed by gradual and arduous steps have attained their own view of life. We do not aspire to conversions. We expect no enthusiastic welcome: we would prefer to take our place slowly, to be judged rather on twelve numbers than on one. A single interview cannot clinch a friendship; seriousness is not proved in a flash, it transpires: and our subject is so immense, our scope so broad, that this first issue must be in the nature of a mere introduction.

As the months proceed we hope, not only to sustain the interest of our readers continuously from one number to the next, but, in addition, so to plan out the various branches of our subject that each issue may be an integral literary document of specific and abiding interest. During this year we propose to constitute Lyrical Poetry our subject - for one whole number; in another we shall deal with American poetry, in others again with German, with French, and with Italian. We shall also devote an issue to modern women-poets, another to the Celtic movement, and another to dramatic poetry. Further subjects will, perhaps, be the Christian mystic poets, the Elizabethans, the school of Whitman, and the recital of poetry.

We shall print probably each month a few pages of poetry by one individual living poet, as often as possible, though not necessarily always, related by style or by matter to the subject of the issue, and, side by side with the poetry, usually a short article either in the form of an explanation of his aims and tendencies by the poet himself, or of an essay by some writer who has made his work a subject of special study. We shall endeavour to allow no prejudice to influence the selection of such poetry, but to keep our sole requirement that of a high standard of literary merit.

Our object is to fulfil for English poetry just such a function as similar foreign reviews exercise for the poetry of their respective countries. Every educated nation, except England, has its periodicals devoted almost exclusively to poetry. Our weekly and monthly papers are nearly all tainted with party-politics, and treat literature as a form of mental athletics. Thought is difficult: it is wonderful when an Englishman achieves it. But poetry is far more native to the national genius. We have a strong capacity for enthusiasm; we have a calm obstinate persistence, and there is no one so inflexible as an Englishman who has finally set his eyes towards Beauty.