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Cambridge History of American Literature: volume 2 (ed. Trent, William Peterfield, 1862-1939., Erskine, John, 1879-1951., Sherman, Stuart Pratt, 1881-1926., Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950.), Chapter 14: Poe (search)
he Sphinx, Mellonta Tauta, and X-ing a Paragrab. One feels, indeed, that Lowell's famous characterization of him: Three fifths of him genius and two fifths sheer fudge, applies with entire justice to him as a maker of short stories. The best of his narrative work is to be found in his analytical tales, as The gold Bug or The descent into the Maelstrom, in certain stories in which he combines his analytical gift with the imaginative and inventive gift, as The Cask of Amontillado and William Wilson, or in certain studies of the pure imagination, as The fall of the House of Usher and The Masque of the red death. In all of these he displays a skill of construction and of condensation surpassed by few if any other workers in his field. In some—as in The Masque of the red death, or in Eleonora, or in his landscape studies—he shows himself a master of English style; and in two of his briefer studies— Shadow and Silence—he approaches the eloquence and splendour of De Quincey. His m
Cambridge History of American Literature: volume 2 (ed. Trent, William Peterfield, 1862-1939., Erskine, John, 1879-1951., Sherman, Stuart Pratt, 1881-1926., Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950.), Chapter 3: poets of the Civil War II (search)
f not a few volumes of well-meant verse, See Bibliography the poetic output of the South before the Civil War. The Civil War aroused intense emotions that found expression in a large body of lyric poetry, written by some men who were professedly poets and by more who were but occasionally such. It is difficult for one of the present generation to realize the unity and the fervour of the Southern people at the beginning of the war. Most intelligent Southerners would now agree with President Wilson that the principles for which the South fought meant stand-still in the midst of change; it was conservative, not creative; it was against drift and destiny; it protected an impossible institution and a belated order of society; it withstood a creative and an imperial idea, the idea of a united people and a single law of freedom. But it was given to few men, if any, on either side to understand the issues thus clearly defined. In fact, as soon as Fort Sumter was attacked and Maryland
Cambridge History of American Literature: volume 2 (ed. Trent, William Peterfield, 1862-1939., Erskine, John, 1879-1951., Sherman, Stuart Pratt, 1881-1926., Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950.), Chapter 4: the New South: Lanier (search)
sing the meditations of Columbia at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. There was nothing mean or narrow in his make-up. The breadth of his own soul and the exalted purpose of his life responded quickly to the new outlook before the nation. He leaped far ahead of his section in grasping and appropriating what he might of the new quickening spirit, but he was largely influential, with Lamar and Grady, in bringing the South to share in that quickening influence. He likewise revealed to the North, even before Grady, the possibilities of the recently vanquished section, and thereby hastened that spiritual rapprochement which went on steadily increasing to the end of the century, as we have seen in the patriotic glow of Wilson's poems. If Lanier had only had for poetic expression that genius which he apparently possessed for music, what position might he not have attained? With what full-throated ease then would the South at the Reconstruction period have sung out its inmost heart!
Cambridge History of American Literature: volume 2 (ed. Trent, William Peterfield, 1862-1939., Erskine, John, 1879-1951., Sherman, Stuart Pratt, 1881-1926., Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950.), Index (search)
Whittier, Thomas, 42 Who's ready?, 280 Wide, wide world, the, 398 Widow Bedott. See Whitcher, Frances Miriam Widow Bedott papers, the, 154 Widow Sprigg, Mary Elmer, and other sketches, 154 Wilberforce, William, 45 Wilde, Richard Henry, 167, 289 Wilkins, Mary E. See Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins William the Silent, 141 Williams College, 219, 223 Willis, Nathaniel, 399 Willis, N. P., 61, 63 n., 164, 167, 168, 173, 174, 187, 399 Williamson, Dr., Hugh, 106 William Wilson, 68 Willson, Forceythe, 281 Wilson, Robert Burns, 331, 346 Wilson, Woodrow, 289 Winsor, Justin, 128 Winter, William, 286 Winthrop, John, 110 Winthrop, Theodore, 280 Wirt, William, 104, 105 Wise, Henry Augustus, 154 Wister, Owen, 293, 363 With My friends, 388 Without and within, 242 Wives of the dead, the, 23 Wolfe, Gen., 11 Wonder books, 21, 401 Wonderful One-Hoss Shay, The, 237 Wondersmith, the, 373, 374 Wood, Mrs., John, 291 Woodhouse, Lord, 141
Bliss Perry, The American spirit in lierature: a chronicle of great interpreters, Chapter 8: Poe and Whitman (search)
es to pieces for our amusement a puzzle which he has cunningly put together. The Gold Bug is the best known of these, The Purloined letter the most perfect, The Murders in the Rue Morgue the most sensational. Then there are the tales upon scientific subjects or displaying the pretence of scientific knowledge, where the narrator loves to pose as a man without imagination and with habits of rigid thought. And there are tales of conscience, of which The black Cat is the most fearful and William Wilson the most subtle; and there are landscape sketches and fantasies and extravaganzas, most of these poor stuff. It is ungrateful and perhaps unnecessary to dwell upon Poe's limitations. His scornful glance caught certain aspects of the human drama with camera-like precision. Other aspects of life, and nobler, he never seemed to perceive. The human comedy sometimes moved him to laughter, but his humor is impish and his wit malign. His imagination fled from the daylight; he dwelt in th
Bliss Perry, The American spirit in lierature: a chronicle of great interpreters, Chapter 10: a New nation (search)
tors in a certain rude, healthy masculinity, the humor of river and mining-camp and printing-office, where men speak without censorship. His country-men liked exaggeration, and he exaggerated; they liked irreverence, and he had turned iconoclast in Innocents abroad. As a professional humorist, he has paid the obligatory tax for his extravagance, over-emphasis, and undisciplined taste, but such faults are swiftly forgotten when one turns to Huckleberry Finn and the negro Jim and Pudd'nhead Wilson, when one feels Mark Twain's power in sheer description and episode, his magic in evoking landscape and atmosphere, his blazing scorn at injustice and cruelty, his contempt for quacks. Bret Harte, another discoverer of the West, wears less well than Mark Twain as a personal figure, but has a sure place in the evolution of the American short story, and he did for the mining-camps of California what Clemens wrought for the Mississippi River: he became their profane poet. Yet he was never r
Bliss Perry, The American spirit in lierature: a chronicle of great interpreters, Index. (search)
Week on the Concord and Merrimac rivers, a, Thoreau 131 Wendell, Barrett, 6 West, The, in American literature, 237 et seq. Westchester farmer, the, Seabury 76 When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloomed, Whitman 201 When the Frost is on the Punkin, Riley 248 Whitaker, Alexander, 26-27, 38 Whitman, Walt, in 1826, 90; in New York, 108; life and writings, 196-205; died (1892), 255; typically American, 265; argues for American books, 266 Whittier, J. G., in 1826, 90; attitude towards Transcendentalism, 143; life and writings 157-64; died (1892), 255 William and Mary College, 62 William Wilson, Poe 194 Williams, Roger, 2, 16,19, 2-34, 38, 40-41 Willis, N. P., 107 Winthrop, John, 17, 18, 28-29 Wirt, William, 245 Wister, Owen, 243 Woodberry, George, 257 Woodworth. Samuel, 107 Woolman, John, 69 Wonder-book, the, Hawthorne 145, 147 Wreck of the Hesprus, the, Longfellow 155 Wister, Owen, 243 Yale University, 62 Years of my youth, Howells 250
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Short studies of American authors, Poe. (search)
or being deceived by any of Poe's citations, saying that he hardly knew a word of German. But, making all possible deductions, how wonderful remains the power of Poe's imaginative tales, and how immense is the ingenuity of his puzzles and disentanglements! The conundrums of Wilkie Collins never renew their interest after the answer is known; but Poe's can be read again and again. It is where spiritual depths are to be touched, that he shows his weakness; where he attempts it, as in William Wilson, it seems exceptional; where there is the greatest display of philosophic form, he is often most trivial, whereas Hawthorne is often profoundest when he has disarmed you by his simplicity. The truth is, that Poe lavished on things comparatively superficial those great intellectual resources which Hawthorne reverently husbanded and used. That there is something behind even genius to make or mar it, this is the lesson of the two lives. Poe makes one of his heroes define another as tha
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the war of 1861-1865, vol. 1, Mass. officers and men who died., List of Massachusetts officers and soldiers killed in action. (search)
Pa.,July 3, 1863. Wilson, James B.,20th Mass. Inf.,Wilderness, Va.,May 6, 1864. Wilson, Joseph D., Sergt.,54th Mass. Inf.,James Island, S. C.,July 16, 1863. Wilson, Joseph H.,26th Mass. Inf.,Winchester, Va.,Sept. 19, 1864. Wilson, Nathan W.,11th Mass. Inf.,Gettysburg, Pa..July 3, 1863. Wilson, Norman, Corp.,1st Mass. Cav.,Vaughn Road, Va.,Oct. 1, 1864. Wilson, Thomas,16th Mass. Inf.,Williamsburg Road, Va.,June 18, 1862. Wilson, Uriah,54th Mass. Inf.,Olustee, Fla.,Feb. 20, 1864. Wilson, William,54th Mass. Inf.,Georgetown, S. C.,April 30, 1865. Wilson, William H., 1st Sergt.,57th Mass. Inf.,Wilderness, Va.,May 6, 1864. Winans, John M., Corp.,34th Mass. Inf.,Cedar Creek, Va.,Oct. 13, 1864. Wing, Charles T.,37th Mass. Inf.,Spotsylvania, Va.,May 18, 1864. Winn, William,9th Mass. Inf.,Gaines' Mill, Va.,June 27, 1862. Winslow, Lewis D.,36th Mass. Inf.,Spotsylvania, Va.,May 12, 1864. Winslow, Nathaniel W.,18th Mass. Inf.,Shepherdstown, Va.,Sept. 20, 1862. Winslow, William H.,2
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the war of 1861-1865, vol. 1, Mass. officers and men who died., Williston, Roland (search)
Pa.,July 3, 1863. Wilson, James B.,20th Mass. Inf.,Wilderness, Va.,May 6, 1864. Wilson, Joseph D., Sergt.,54th Mass. Inf.,James Island, S. C.,July 16, 1863. Wilson, Joseph H.,26th Mass. Inf.,Winchester, Va.,Sept. 19, 1864. Wilson, Nathan W.,11th Mass. Inf.,Gettysburg, Pa..July 3, 1863. Wilson, Norman, Corp.,1st Mass. Cav.,Vaughn Road, Va.,Oct. 1, 1864. Wilson, Thomas,16th Mass. Inf.,Williamsburg Road, Va.,June 18, 1862. Wilson, Uriah,54th Mass. Inf.,Olustee, Fla.,Feb. 20, 1864. Wilson, William,54th Mass. Inf.,Georgetown, S. C.,April 30, 1865. Wilson, William H., 1st Sergt.,57th Mass. Inf.,Wilderness, Va.,May 6, 1864. Winans, John M., Corp.,34th Mass. Inf.,Cedar Creek, Va.,Oct. 13, 1864. Wing, Charles T.,37th Mass. Inf.,Spotsylvania, Va.,May 18, 1864. Winn, William,9th Mass. Inf.,Gaines' Mill, Va.,June 27, 1862. Winslow, Lewis D.,36th Mass. Inf.,Spotsylvania, Va.,May 12, 1864. Winslow, Nathaniel W.,18th Mass. Inf.,Shepherdstown, Va.,Sept. 20, 1862. Winslow, William H.,2
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