Elfin music: An anthology of English fairy poetry

"Elfin music : An anthology of English fairy poetry" by Waite and Sharp is a collection of poetry written in the late 19th century. The volume gathers English-language fairy verse across roughly six centuries, curated and introduced to explore the lore, landscapes, and figures of Faërie. It foregrounds iconic beings such as Oberon, Titania, Puck, and Queen Mab alongside sprites, pixies, water-nymphs, and mermaids, arranged in themed sections that move from vistas of Fairyland to chronicles, travels, and human–fairy encounters. The opening of this anthology presents Arthur Edward Waite’s substantial introduction, which traces a contemporary revival of the romantic and supernatural in poetry; the etymology of “fairy” from Latin via French romance; and the blending of French, Teutonic, Celtic, and classical traditions into England’s elfin mythology. Waite contrasts lineages and beliefs (from Spenser’s elfin emperors to Shakespeare’s Indian-threaded lore), debates fairy stature and religion, and sketches the elfin court—Oberon, Titania/Mab, and Robin Goodfellow—alongside a taxonomy of land, sea, and underworld spirits. He retells key medieval romances—“Orfeo and Heurodis” and “The Knight Launfal”—to show how mortals journey into Fairyland, and explains the book’s thematic arrangement. After this, the selections begin with Poe’s dreamlike “Fairyland” and Hemans’s invocation to recall the elves, followed by portraits of the fairy family: Spenser’s dynastic rolls, Steward’s dressing of Oberon, Jonson’s and Shakespeare’s Queen Mab and lullaby for Titania, Puck’s fleet song, and Herrick’s playful fairy chapels and feasts. Early pieces also widen the realm to pixies, water sprites, and mermaids, setting a lyrical, otherworldly tone for the sections that follow.