The reputation of W. H. Davies has undergone several revolutions since he first appeared on the literary scene at the beginning of the century. After several attempts at self-publication of his poems, Davies's writing was championed by Bernard Shaw, who contributed a preface and suggested the title for The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908). Shaw's support brought Davies to public notice and thereby assisted him in achieving a less precarious livelihood and a wider audience for his poetry. As an artless and simple poet of commonplace nature, particularly coming after the decadent excesses of the fin de siècle, Davies was a welcome fixture of the Georgian literary scene. Proud of his naturalized citizenship in the republic of letters and with an almost awkward assumed gentility, Davies for the most part avoided any mention in his poetry of his colorful raffish adventures both in America and England as...