Excerpt from Prelude They numbered, among others, a sculp tress, a university instructor in medieval philosophy, a student of medicine, a student of theology, a biological chemist, a student of economics, political theory and drama, and two students of general liberal arts. Part of this varied group was accustomed, during the winter of 191920, to gather weekly, and on such occasions the talk was merely lively, or weighty, or both, as suited the mood of the talkers. Each member contributed his bit, and the representative of poesy, when called upon, would attempt a retreat. When hard pressed, with his back to the wall, he would produce some comic doggerel or nonsense verse. Only once or twice did he consent to give the hungry group a serious morsel. Some of the individuals in the circle knew of the verses here recorded, but to others most of them will be new. Despite the poet's own indifference to the grace of young rosebuds and his desire - in emo' tion as in all things - for the full flower, his friends find consolation in preserving the germ of merit which they believe is contained in lines often passionate, sometimes headlong and bitter, and again gentle and resigned. To those who Offered their cooperation in the publishing Of Prelude the editor owes hearty thanks. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.