Editorial Note
Twenty of the poems in this edition have never been published before, or have appeared only in periodicals. These may be distinguished by the dates which are appended beneath them. The whole of the poems published in book form during the poet’s lifetime are reprinted with the exception of seven lyrics which there is reason to believe he did not desire to perpetuate. Of the new ones several are "Juvenilia," written between the ages of sixteen and twenty, which have been included in order to illustrate his development
The poems are arranged in a roughly chronological order; those written in the years 1907–10 following most nearly (more information as to date being available with these) the actual order of composition.
The text of many, especially of the early, poems will be found to differ considerably from that hitherto printed, owing to Flecker’s habit of continual revision. In some of the MSS. there are variant readings from which the present editor has been compelled to select. The fragments of the "Ode to Shelley" presented the most difficult problem, and the order in which they are placed is not to be presumed the correct order.
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