Masque of Poets

A Masque of Poets (1878) is a poetry collection edited by George Parsons Lathrop. Part of Boston-based publisher Roberts Brothers’ “No Name” series, A Masque of Poets presents the works of little-known writers―including Emily Dickinson―alongside such recognized masters as Christina Rossetti and James Russell Lowell, leaving each poem anonymous to allow the reader to experience the work without thought of reputation. “Sing! Sing of what? The world is full of song; / And all the singing seems but echoed notes / Of the great masters…” Beginning with this playful introductory poem, A Masque of Poets attempts to demystify poetry by removing poets from the equation altogether. Understanding the pressures inherent to making art, especially the kind of art with such a long and storied history as poetry, this collection foregoes reputation and tradition by allowing the poems to speak for themselves, to appear anonymously so that the reader might make a clear judgment regarding each poem’s meaning and quality. Far from mere publishing gimmick, A Masque of Poets is a highly original, challenging, and rewarding collection of poems that happens to include works from some of the nineteenth century’s finest poets. By forcing the reader to trust their interpretive abilities, A Masque of Poets reinvigorates a craft whose worth was never the names of its practitioners, but the words they could produce. “Success,” the final poem before the concluding “novelette in verse” Guy Vernon, just so happens to be one of the only poems published by Emily Dickinson in her lifetime. For its importance to Dickinson scholars, as well as for its genuine originality, A Masque of Poets remains an essential contribution to the history of American literature.

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George Parsons Lathrop (1851-1898) was an American editor, poet, and novelist. Born in Honolulu, he was educated in New York City and Dresden, Germany. After a brief time abroad, he returned to New York to pursue his literary interests. After marrying Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, in 1871, Lathrop became the associate editor for the Atlantic Monthly and later the Boston Courier. In the late 1870s, he worked as an editor for Roberts Brothers, overseeing the publication of such works as A Masque of Poets (1878), which compiled the works of several dozen English and American writers. Part of the Boston-based publisher’s “No Name” series, A Masque of Poets presented the works of little-known writers―including Emily Dickinson―alongside such recognized masters as Christina Rossetti and James Russell Lowell, leaving each poem anonymous to allow the reader to experience the work without thought of reputation. A relatively minor figure in nineteenth century American literature, Lathrop was nevertheless an interesting and industrious man whose personal and professional life brought him in contact with some of the leading artists of the era.