SOURCE: “Thoreau's Collected Poems,” in American Literature, Vol. 17, No. 1, March 1945, pp. 260-67.

In the following review of Carl Bode's 1943 edition of Thoreau's Collected Poems, Allen points out minor textual inaccuracies in the volume but in general finds Bode's edition otherwise to be a fine scholarly effort.

In reviewing in November, 1943, the Collected Poems of Henry Thoreau, edited by Carl Bode, American Literature gave the book the commendation it so richly deserved, but, except at a single point, did not consider it critically in detail. I hope it is not too late for a few more critical remarks about this admirable but not impeccable piece of work.

A few weeks ago a member of the staff of the Library of Congress asked me whether I thought the poem “Carpe Diem,” printed over the signature H. T. in the Boatswain's Whistle for November 16, 1864, was really written by Thoreau, as some...