EDITOR'S FOREWORD.
IN presenting to the public this "portrait gallery" of Canadian poets—an enlargement of a brochure published some sixteen years ago—the Editor does not claim to have included in it all who might be considered entitled to admission. Criticism doubtless will be made in some cases, on the ground either of inclusion or exclusion, but it is believed that the collection will be recognized as fairly representative of this department of Canadian literature. In the decade and a half which has passed since the publication of the first edition many strong, clear voices have joined the national chorus, and the Editor deems himself fortunate in having secured contributions from so many of these new singers.
The reader will not be surprised to observe how largely the Great War is reflected in these pages. A special interest attaches to the poems of Lieut.-Col. McCrae, Major Langstaff and Lieut. Trotter. The death of these gallant officers, while it has enriched the country's honor-roll of achievement and sacrifice, has at the same time robbed our literature of the riper product of powers rich in promise.
No apology need be made for giving to Charles Sangster the distinctive place he holds in the book. He has been called the "Father of Canadian Poetry," and there are few who will differ with the late Dr. Dewart in his estimate of Sangster's genius as "more truly Canadian than that of any other poet of distinction in this Province." For the photograph the Editor is indebted to Mr. Rod Sangster, of Montreal, a son of the poet; and for the poem to the late Mr. Charles H. Gould, M.A., Librarian of McGill University, to which institution the manuscript poems of Sangster, revised shortly before his death, were committed for keeping.
Through the kindness of Mrs. A. M. Tremaine, of this city, the Editor was permitted the use of a slight M.S.
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