R. M. Leonard

I am delighted to have discovered a serious attempt at a subject index to poetry, biting the bullet nearly a century ago, in The pageant of English poetry. This volume, compiled by R. M. Leonard and printed by Oxford University Press in 1924, has 606 pages: `being', the title page proclaims, `1150 poems and extracts by 300 authors'. A prefatory note dated 1909 adds that these `cover a period of upwards of 600 years ... The work of living poets has been excluded': the earliest poet quoted is Geoffrey Chaucer (six extracts from his works are given); the latest is W. E. Henley, who died in 1903, and has two poems included (`Out of the Night' and `England, My England').
The prefatory note states also, `at the end are two indexes, one of first lines of the poems ... and the other a subject index, in which an attempt has been made at classification.' – a fascinating attempt, indeed.
The SUBJECT INDEX runs from page 601 to 606, with a headnote in square brackets, sic:
"[In this index, which does not pretend to be exhaustive, the poems have been classified under main headings. The references are to the numbers of the poems, not to the pages.]"
The punctuation is elaborate: a capital initial letter for each main entry; a space and a colon following each entry term; a full stop following each list of numbers and each cross-reference. These last are curiously distinguished: See is used, as today, to indicate listing under an alternative term; while indication of additional terms to be consulted, for which today we would instruct see also, again have See, but these supplementary references are enclosed in brackets.
A full line of poem reference numbers gives about seven of them. I will give the numbers of lines of references, rounding the total up or down to the nearest number of full lines. These give us an indication of what were the major topics of poetry up to the beginning of the 20th century (taking this vast selection as typical). The full entry for `Love', with 19 subheadings, takes one and a half of the index's 11 columns (no surprise really that that topic comes out top). The longest single entry, with 13 lines of references, is for the subheading `tributes of' under Love; next is `Elegies and Dirges' with 9; then `Poets and poetry' with 7; `Love ___ unrequited', 6; `Historical', 6; and `Birds', `Children and childhood', `Flowers', `Life ___ the true living of', `Love ___ desires of' and `Spring' each have five lines of references. No subject is listed with only one poem referring to it; there are many with only two.
The selection of terms and of cross-references intriguingly suggest the values of the period. For example: `Historical. (See Patriotism)', `Patriotism. (See Heroism)' [and seeing it, we find `Heroism and courage']; `Loyalty. See Kings and Queens.', `Kings and Queens. (See Jacobitism.)', `Queens. See Kings.' ; `Suicide. See Murder'.

With 577 pages of poetry to be categorized in an index of little over five pages (less than one per cent of the whole), but few references are given to each poem. Wordsworth's `Composed Upon Westminster Bridge' is listed only under London (and not under Rivers); his `My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold' only under Children and childhood (not under Sky, which refers only to Addison's `The Spacious Firmament on High' and Habington's `When I Survey the Bright Celestial Sphere'); `She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways' under Elegies and Dirges (not Violets, which has five references); `She Was a Phantom of Delight' only under Women and womankind; while the `Ode on Intimations of Immortality', which fills four pages of The pageant of English poetry, is listed under only three categories: Boys and boyhood, Children and childhood, and Spring.… (más)