Songs+of+Freedom,+Selected+&+Edited+by+Henry+S.+Salt

Various Authors including: Robert Burns, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Walt Whitman, and Edward Carpenter Publisher: Walter Scott, Limited, 24 Warwick Lane: London. The Canterbury Poets series ed. William Sharp Dated: 1893 Call number: PR1195 F7S3
 * // [|Songs of Freedom] // Selected Book of Poetry by Henry S. Salt **

__On The Outside: __
This book is a first edition copy, retrieved from the library at the University of Victoria. The binding is an earthly brown canvas, with a small amount of wear and tear on it for a hundred-twenty three year old book. An embossed gold and black title brightly pronounces "Songs of Freedom" towards the bottom. There is a fading depiction of a flock of birds in-flight among some flowers that consumes the majority of the front cover, as well as a smaller black heading of "The Canterbury Poets" in a calligraphy font towards the top. On the spine we have another gold plate with the title, as well as the printer's name "[|Walter Scott]" in smaller black print towards the bottom. There looks as if there is also a continuation of the pictures of flowers cover theme, but it has unfortunately been covered by the librarians' organizational stickers. Within the first title page the book tells readers that it was published under the series with which William Sharp edited for publication. The poems were compiled by [|Henry S. Salt], and he also writes the preface to the novel explaining his selections and arrangements within. In total the book is 5 and 1/4 inches tall, and four inches wide making it just a bit smaller than an octavo.



__On The Inside: __
====The contents are arranged in three divisions, which are explained at length within Salt's preface; the first section is the last quarter of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th. Beginning with Robert Burns [|"Poetical Inscription for an Altar to Independence"] and ending with Edward Carpenter's "What is Freedom?" this book fought the constricting societal expectations of the Victorian Era, through the Victorian people's established love of poetry. The final pages of the book are presented within a catalogue to let its Victorian readers know of similar volumes that will be available, the format of these compilations, and the various prices. Over the span of fourteen pages, the continuation of The Canterbury Poets is advertised as well as numerous "compact and practical" series such as European conversation books (Scott, Salt, "Songs of Freedom"). The main theme of this compilation strives from [|The Fabian Society], of which Salt and featured poet Edward Carpenter were noted contributors. The Fabians were "established in London in 1884, [and] aimed to promote a moral reconstruction of British society according to socialist principles and level the gulf between the rich and the poor [through] a gradual, non-revolutionary transition to socialism based on humanist foundations" (Diniejko, "The Fabian Society in Late Victorian Britain"). This compilation in particular, according to Salt, is "to present an adequate collection of English and American poems illustrative of the growth of the revolutionary ideal" (Salt, preface). It aimed to draw up a timeline of sorts, from numerous authors and poets throughout the centuries who wrote in defiance of their governments and societies in favour of social progression. During its time of publication this book would have been considered to be propaganda for the political changes that were "a result [of] the Fabian Society [pressing] successfully on the Liberal-dominated Progressive Party in the London County Council in the 1890's" (Diniejko, "The Fabian Society in Late Victorian Britain"). The Fabian society's most prominent member, [|George Bernard Shaw], coined the motto "educate, agitate, organise": this motto reflects the intentions of this book and its contributors during their time. To permeate Victorian citizen's minds with prickling thoughts of unadulterated social freedom, but hide them within a conveniently breast-pocket-sized collection of poems. ==== ==== The poems themselves are primarily works of reflection which ponder liberty, politics, and issues of humanitarianism. [|Edward Carpenter] 's poetic discussion of these themes concludes the anthology, and for the purpose of this collection it was entitled "What is Freedom?". The poem was originally listed as "LXVIII" in Carpenter's third edition of "[|Towards Democracy]". The poem is shown below in figures 1-4. ==== ==== ====

__About these names: __
====The central creditors of this novel, [|William Sharp], and Henry Salt were social activists each in their own right. William Sharp spoke out against the constricting discrimination of women in literature, with his primary argument being that the sex of the speaker within a piece of work is so unrecognisable that it cannot be held against the author (Oxford DNB, "Sharp, William"). To prove this theory, Sharp coined the pseudonym "Fiona MacLeod" and began publishing under this name the year after "Songs of Freedom" was released. Henry Salt wrote numerous pieces on humanitarianism, government punishments, animal rights, and vegetarianism. Salt is credited in a correspondence between himself and Mahatma Gandhi, for confirming Gandhi's commitment to vegetarianism after reading Salt's essay "The Logic of Vegetarianism"  (Oxbury, H. F. “Salt, Henry Shakespeare Stephens”). Vegetarianism was a common idea blooming between Salt and his friends, friends such as Edward Carpenter. Carpenter is considered the first man to actively fight to emancipate homosexuals, and create sexual freedom within society. He was fiercely political, as many a member of the Fabian Society, and "i <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">n 1892, [the year prior to "Songs of Freedom's" release] when the Walsall anarchists were tried for an attempt to manufacture bombs allegedly for the Russians, Carpenter as a witness defended them by dissociating anarchism from terrorism" (Oxford DNB, “Carpenter, Edward”). Carpenter "was sometimes called the English Tolstoy", which brings readers full circle through a network of social reformers as we find in the back of "Songs of Freedom" advertisements for Tolstoy's publications as well original publications brought over from Russia (Oxford DNB, "Carpenter Edward"). ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16.6296px; line-height: 1.5;">Each of these men fought and spoke out against different binaries, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16.6296px;">and yet they all come together in this one little book in hopes of highlighting their key points: equality, justice, and fairness within society. This book of poems, upon further inspection, is not just an anthology but in fact an entire network of activism in the 19th <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16.6296px; line-height: 1.5;">century which can be reconnected through its many contributors. It is <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> a swirling amalgamation of freedom fighters, brought together through mutual artistry and the Fabian Society, to create a broad spectrum of humanitarian reform. This book represents the embers of a movement that 123 years later, are still burning. ====

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Works Cited:
Diniejko, Andrzej. "The Fabian Society in Late Victorian Britain." //The Fabian Society in Late Victorian Britain//. Web. 14 Feb.2016. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/fabian.html>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oxbury, H. F. “ <span class="headword" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Salt, Henry Shakespear Stephens <span class="roman" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">(1851–1939) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">.” //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oxford Dictionary of National Biography //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. 2004. 14 Feb. 2016. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/view/article/37932>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pittock, Murray G. H. “ <span class="headword" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sharp, William <span class="roman" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> [Fiona MacLeod] (1855–1905) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">.” //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oxford Dictionary of National Biography //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 15 Feb. 2016 <http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/view/article/36041>.

"Songs of Freedom" Henry S. Salt Archive. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. http://www.henrysalt.co.uk/bibliography/edited/songs-of-freedom

Salt, Henry S. //Songs of Freedom//. London: W. Scott, 1893. Print.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">"The Fabian Story." Fabian Society. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.

Tsuzuki, Chushichi. “ Carpenter, Edward (1844–1929) .” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Sept. 2012. 14 Feb. 2016.<http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/view/article/32300>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Turner, John R.. “ <span class="headword" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Scott, Sir Walter <span class="roman" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">, first baronet (1826–1910) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">.” //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oxford Dictionary of National Biography //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. May 2012. 14 Feb 2016.<http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/view/article/47446>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Weintraub, Stanley. “ Shaw, George Bernard (1856–1950) .” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Sept. 2013. 14 Feb. 2016.<http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/view/article/36047>.

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