barcroft

When preparing these verses for the press, the first question which met me was this: Should Boake be treated from a literary standpoint or from a personal standpoint—as poet or as man and poet? I chose the personal standpoint. To consider Boake as a literary figure, with an eye chiefly to his literary reputation, meant omission of whatever herein is crude or weak, in order that readers should judge him only by his best. Such a course implied loss and discontent to many persons who care little for the niceties of style, and find in vigorous picturing and natural emotion ample amends for bad rhymes and false accents And, what is more important, such a course would have given a wrong impression of Boake. Some of his most valuable work lies in fragments of poems which as wholes seem comparatively ineffective. These fragments could not be divorced from the context, yet were not lightly to be discarded. Further, Boake's least remarkable compositions, with two or three exceptions, are as characteristic of Australia and of himself as are the most remarkable. So, instead of trying to exalt the Poet by his work, I have tried rather to show the Man in his poetry.

This decision brought an easy answer to the second question: How far was it justifiable to prune or polish Boake's verses: how far was it desirable? Plainly, the less trimming the better; since his errors are a part of Boake, and every one removed helps to misrepresent him. Nor was it certain that a foreign hand would not mar as much as it mended. Sometimes Boake has gained variety and force at the expense of metre and rhyme; and to alter is to plunge deep in the old controversy whether gain of mechanical correctness balances loss of picturesque vigour. So I have not attempted to patch Boake's garment with alien cloth. I have carefully compared the printed poems with available originals, correcting errors of the press and adopting a few alternative readings sanctioned by MS.; and occasionally I have strengthened a line or changed a word where the advantage seemed obvious or the necessity great.

The order of the verses is that of convenience. There is in many cases no clue to the precise dates of composition, which did not coincide with the dates of publication: hence exact chronological order is unattainable. And Boake's poetic harvest was reaped in so brief a time—some eighteen months—that there is little material difference of merit between his earlier and his later verses.
Of the thirty-one indexed poems which follow, twenty-five were printed in The Bulletin, and two in The Sydney Mail: four now appear for the first time. The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Limited, is acting in the matter of this publication as trustee for Boake's near relatives, who share with the publishers. Messrs. Angus and Robertson, any profits accruing after expenses have been paid.
I have to tender warm thanks to Messrs. F. P. Mahony, A. J. Fischer, and G. W. Lambert, the artists who have illustrated the volume, and to whose talent and pains is due much of any interest it may possess. I gratefully acknowledge, also, the care and skill of the engravers, Messrs. Benton and Bacon, Mr. Irwin (of The Daily Telegraph), and Mr. Hamilton (of The Bulletin); and especially of the printers, Messrs. Websdale, Shoosmith, and Co.
And, identifying myself as nearly as may be with Barcroft Boake, to the memory of his mother and to Australia I dedicate this book.

A. G. STEPHENS.
Sydney, 29th July, 1897.