Chapter 7

The Poets and Poetry of America, with an Historical Introduction. By Rufus Willmot Griswold. One vol. Carey & Hart: Philadelphia.

This is the best collection of the American Poets that has yet been made, whether we consider its completeness, its size, or the judgment displayed in its selections. The volume is issued in a style commensurate with its literary worth. The paper, type and printing are unexceptionable. Messrs. Carey & Hart have, in “The Poets and Poetry of America,” published the finest volume of the season.

The editor begins his selections of American Poets with Frenau, prefacing them, however, with an historical introduction evincing considerable research. In this introduction he shows that, prior to the revolution, the pretenders to the muse in the colonies scarcely rose to the level of versifiers. From Frenau downwards, the chain is kept up to the youngest poet of the day. About eighty-eight authors are embraced in the body of the work. To the selections from each author is prefixed a short but clear biography. The editor has not always been guided, in making his selections, by the relative merit of the various authors, but, in cases where the writers have published editions of their poems, he has been less copious in his extracts, than when the poet has left his works to take care of themselves. Thus we have the whole of Dana’s “Buccanier,” of Whittier’s “Mogg Magone,” of Sprague’s “Curiosity,” and of Drake’s “Culprit Fay.” Most of C. Fenno Hoffman’s songs are also included in the collection. But Pierpoint’s “Airs of Palestine,” are excluded, as are the longer and best poems of Willis. At the end of the volume is an appendix, in which about fifty writers, whom the editor has not thought worthy of a place in the body of his book, figure under the name of “Various Authors.” Such is the plan of the work. A word, in detail, on its merits.

We have said that this volume is superior to any former collection of the American Poets, whether we regard its size, its completeness, or the taste displayed in the selections. This is ourgeneralopinion of the book. We do not, however,alwayscoincide with the judgment of the editor. There are several writers in the Appendix who have as good claims to appear in the body of the work, as others who figure largely in the latter more honorable station. There are many mere versifiers included in the selection who should have been excluded, or else others who have been left out should have been admitted. Perhaps the author, without being aware of it himself, has unduly favored the writers of New England. Instances of all these faults will be noticed by the reader, and we need not further allude to them.

The editor has scarcely done justice to some of our younger poets, either in his estimate of their genius, or in his selections from their poems. A glaring instance of this is the case ofLowell, a young poet, to whom others than ourselves have assigned a genius of the highest rank. We would have been better pleased to have seen a more liberal notice of his poems. We know that, with the exception of “Rosaline,” better selections might have been made from his works. A few years hence, Mr. Griswold himself will be amazed that he assigned no more space toLowellthan to M’Lellan, Tuckerman, and others of “Οι Πολλοι.” Holmes is another instance of the injustice done an author by the editor’s selections. The author of “Old Ironsides” has written better poems than that, all about the old man, of whom

“My grandmamma has said—Poor old lady! she is deadLong ago—That he had a Roman nose,And his cheek was like a roseIn the snow.”

“My grandmamma has said—

Poor old lady! she is dead

Long ago—

That he had a Roman nose,

And his cheek was like a rose

In the snow.”

And again,

“I know it is a sinFor me to sit and grinAt him here,But the old three-cornered hat,And the breeches—and all that,Are so queer!”

“I know it is a sin

For me to sit and grin

At him here,

But the old three-cornered hat,

And the breeches—and all that,

Are so queer!”

Little more can be said in the way of criticism, unless we should follow up these remarks by further examples in detail. For this we have no inclination, since, after all, the book, as a whole, is one of high merit; and, from the very nature of the work, it is impossible for an editor to produce a faultless volume. A thorough analysis of the book might induce many, whose minds are not comprehensive, to think it a bad, instead of what it really is, a good work.

The Two Admirals, a Tale, by the Author of “The Pilot,” “Red Rover,” &c., &c. Two Vols. Lea & Blanchard: Philadelphia.

Mr. Cooper, in the book before us, has re-asserted his right to the rank of the first living American novelist. The “Two Admirals” is not inferior to the best of his works. The scenes are described with that graphic force for which our author is distinguished above all writers of sea-tales. The two combats betwixt Sir Gervaise Oakes and the French fleet are told with unusual power. But there is nothing like character in the tale, and the plot is shamefully commonplace. Mr. Cooper seems to be aware of his want of ability to write a story, or paint a character, and he therefore wisely expends his whole strength on particular incidents and scenes. In his line he is without a rival here or in Europe.

The Poetical Works of John Sterling. First American Edition. One vol. Herman Hooker: Philadelphia.

Every man of taste will rejoice at this collected edition of the poems of Sterling, the “Archæus” of Blackwood. To Rufus W. Griswold, the editor, and Herman Hooker, the publisher, the American public is indebted for this edition of the works of one of the most pure, delicate, fanciful, and idiomatic, of the poets of the present day.

Essays for Summer Hours. By Charles Lanman. Second Edition. Boston: Hilliard, Grey & Co. London: Wiley & Putnam.

These essays are distinguished by grace, sweetness, and graphic force of language. The author is a devout lover of nature in all her moods, but especially in her more quiet aspects. He has produced a book which will be no discredit to him.

Tecumseh, or the West thirty years since. A Poem. By Geo. H. Colton. Wiley & Putnam: New York & London. Moore & Wiley: Philadelphia.

This book is an elegant specimen of American typography. Of the merits of the poem we shall not speak until July, when we trust to have leisure and space for the task.

three ladies and a gentleman dressed in latest fashion

Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note.

A cover was created for this eBook and is placed in the public domain.

[End ofGraham’s Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 6, June 1842, George R. Graham, Editor]

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