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IN DECEMBER 1916, Wheels: An Anthology of Verse, the annual poetry anthology edited by Edith Sitwell, debuted in bright yellow covers. Picking up on the relation between the yellow covers and the well-known aesthetic and Decadent publication The Yellow Book, Ezra Pound described it as "pleasingly satirical," stating in his review that the publication was the "proper sort of ink-pot to hurl itself in the face of senile pomposity."1 This review, among many others, can be found in a press clippings section assembled by Sitwell at the end of each "cycle," as the issues were called. The practice, which was a way of engaging with critics' reviews, also afforded Sitwell the opportunity to influence and frame the reception of the publication as a whole.2 An examination of the reviews included in this section at the end of the second printing of Cycle One provides insight into the program of the anthology. Of the six lengthier reviews, five emphasize the fact that the publication, with its dolorous and morbid mood, reflected the character of aestheticism and Decadence.
From the start, Wheels was a collaborative project. Its young contributors, including all three Sitwell siblings, were united under a common aesthetic and social philosophy. The "cyclists," as the contributors were called, considered themselves members of an aesthetic elite. Like their aesthetic and Decadent forebears, they too were fighting against the commercialization of literature, and they relied on the high-art reputation of the aesthetic tradition to mount their attack.3 As much scholarship on Wheels acknowledges, the most obvious opponent of the cyclists was Georgian Poetry, the highly popular anthology edited by Edward Marsh and published by Harold Monro's Poetry Bookshop from 1912 until 1922.4 While the cyclists took issue with the style of the Georgian poets, whose work according to Sitwell was characterized by "sub-Wordsworthian ideals," the issues existed on an ideological level as well.5 Although the rivalry between Wheels and Georgian Poetry is well-documented, the fact that the cyclists used the tradition of aestheticism and Decadence as their chosen weapon in this battle is often overlooked.6
Up until now, Sitwell's main achievement in her role as editor of Wheels has largely been considered the fourth cycle in which she published seven poems by the now iconic soldier-poet Wilfred...