Page:Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute.pdf/88

 few foremost, and in the world at large his genius is established as valid among all men."

But why multiply the estimates of authorized exponents of literary supremacy, or reproduce the eulogiums of the recognized arbiters of literary preëminence?

The simple fact that in England and America his works in verse and prose are now by common consent amongst the highest and best of our classics, and that the literature of every tongue in Europe has been enriched by translations of his acknowledged master-pieces tells with conclusive force the story of his preëminence and fully accounts for the deep and permanent hold which his genius has taken upon the civilized world.

Cultivated and uncultivated alike feel and acknowledge its irresistible influence.

He enjoys the unique distinction to which very few writers can justly lay claim, of being supremely great in poetry and prose alike.

In this phenomenal particular he stands side by side with Milton, the ter-centennary of whose birth has recently been celebrated with such imposing ceremonies.

And there is, too, a sad similarity in the pecuniary rewards of their immortal work.

For his Paradise Lost Milton is said to have received the amazingly munificent price of five pounds, while for The Raven a reluctant purchaser was found willing to risk on it the extravagant sum of ten dollars.

Here, at home, it is a source of gratification that a just pride in what he so superbly and so successfully did for American literature has been aroused, bent on making his works more and more familiar to all classes of our people.