PREFACE<br > The first part of The DoTlble Axe was written during<br >the war and finished a year before the war ended， and it<br >bears the sears; but the t)oem is not primarily concerned<br >with lhat ~4rim fohy. Its bur(len， as of some previous work<br >of mine， is to present a certain philosophical attitude，<br >whieh nli~llt he ealled Inhumanism， a shifting of emphasis<br >and siKnifieance from man ta not-man; the rejection of<br >human solipsism and recognition of the transhuman mag-<br >nilicenee. It seems time that our race began to think as<br >an adult does， rather than like an egocentric baby or<br >insane p( rson. This manner of thought and feeling is<br >neither inisanthrotde nor pessimist， though two or three<br >people have said so and may again. It involves no false-<br >hoods， and is a means of maintaining sanity in slippery<br >times; it has objective truth and hunmn value. It offers<br >a reaso，lable detachment as rule of conduct， instead of<br >love， hate and envy. It neutralizes fanaticism and wild<br >hopes; but it provides magnificence for the religious in-<br >stinct， and satisfies our need to admire greatness and re-<br >joice in beauty.<br > The shorter poems that tail the book are expressions，<br >in their different ways， of the same attitude. A few of<br >them have been printed previously; three in Poetry May-<br >azim，， one in the Unir~ersity of Ka~sas City Review， two<br >in The Sah， rday R~ z icw of Literature; several in some<br >recent anthologies.<br > As to the Publishers Note that introduces this volume，<br >let me say that it is here with my cheerful consent， and<br >represents a quite nor，hal difference of opinion. But I be-<br > xxi<br >