Prefatory Note
These poems are chiefly the product of the last two years. The Japanese pieces, however, are mainly reprinted from a volume issued by Mr. C. W. Beaumont in 1927 in a limited and decorated edition. For the previous appearance of several items I am indebted to the editors of the Observer, London Mercury, Nation, Fortnightly, English Review, Daily Express, New Statesman, and Saturday Review.
It is not my habit to reply to my critics, who have been generous to me as a versifier for years. But, in respect of the Japanese pieces which I have written—and I hope to write more—I may be allowed a word. They were blamed here and there for their English tone, and their author was described as an incorrigible "Briton." Those, however, who go from England to Japan without succumbing first to Japanesety will find that there is no great gulf between the old experiences and the new. Substitute cherry-blossom for rose, and rice for bread, and Alps for Chilterns—you do not thereby produce a mystical incomprehensibility. That is better (and worse) provided by avoiding Japan and the Japanese and just being "Oriental."
E. B.
