A mong the piles on my wholly disordered bookshelves I have a cheap, yellowed Macmillan paperback edition of the Selected Poems of Thomas Hardy. This volume was selected by John Crowe Ransom and comes with his high-minded introduction. It is courtesy of Ransom, I suspect, that we think of Thomas Hardy as a modern poet. This edition of Hardy, published in 1961, has become one of the subtle jewels in my home library. The poems are essential; Ransom’s introduction is instructive and can apply to many other poets as well, even to the vast province of poetry itself. But more recently I’ve found another shimmering facet in this volume, namely, a browned index card left in the book by a previous owner. On the card, in careful blue ink, is a list:

中文翻译：

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燃烧的男孩和鹅女孩：论诗歌与自然的经济

在我完全凌乱的书架上的一堆堆中，我有一本廉价的、泛黄的麦克米伦平装版托马斯·哈代的诗选。本书由 John Crowe Ransom 选择，并附有他高尚的介绍。我怀疑，我们认为托马斯·哈代是一位现代诗人，这要归功于勒索姆。这一版哈代 (Hardy) 于 1961 年出版，已成为我家庭图书馆中的精巧珍宝之一。诗是必不可少的；Ransom 的介绍很有启发性，也适用于许多其他诗人，甚至适用于广阔的诗歌领域。但最近我在这本书中发现了另一个闪光的方面，即前任所有者留在书中的一张棕色索引卡。在卡片上，用小心的蓝色墨水，是一个清单：