Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/218

198 are remarkable for their descriptive powers, their serene and elevated philosophy, and noble simplicity of language. Richard H. Dana was one of the first in America to break away from the school of Pope, and his “Buccaneer,” a narrative of crime and retribution, had no slight influence in directing the poetical taste of the country. Charles Sprague (1791-1875) wrote an “Ode to Shakespeare,” a metrical essay on “Curiosity,” and a few other pieces. J. G. Percival (1795-1856) possessed a remarkable command of language and metre, and his “Coral Grove” and “New England” are established favorites. The few poetical remains of Washington Allston (1779-1843), including the “Sylphs of the Seasons,” evince an exuberant fancy and much metrical skill. Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) produced “The Culprit Fay,” an imaginative poem, exquisitely versified. Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867) wrote little, but during his life was one of the most popular of American poets, and his “Marco Bozzaris” is still universally known among his countrymen. The Scripture pieces of N. P. Willis are written with feeling and artistic finish; in his other poems the verbal felicity and sprightly fancy characteristic of his prose writings are discernible. The few brief poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson (born 1803), of which “The Problem” and the lines “To a Humble Bee” afford examples, are remarkable for their quaintness and originality. The early song writers of the period are represented by G. P. Morris (1802-'64), the most popular of his class in America, Edward Coate Pinkney (1802-'28), and C. F. Hoffman, whose amatory or convivial verses are gracefully written and well adapted to music. Among other early writers of the period who are remembered for one or more successful poems are F. S. Key (1779-1843), author of the “Star-Spangled Banner;” Samuel Woodworth (1785-1842), of “The Old Oaken Bucket;” R. H. Wilde (1789-1847), of the song “My Life is like the Summer Rose;” and John Howard Payne (1792-1852), whose “Home, Sweet Home” is known wherever the English language is spoken. Among later song writers is Stephen C. Foster (1826-'64), the most popularly successful and the most peculiarly American of all. The poems of E. A. Poe form a fitting accompaniment to his prose writings, and are characterized by a shadowy and gloomy imagination, and a fascinating melody of rhythm. “The Raven” illustrates his facility in harmonizing sentiment with rhythmical expression; and his “Annabel Lee,” “Haunted Palace,” and “Bells” are constructed with equal skill. The most artistic and cosmopolitan of American poets, and the most widely read abroad, is H. W. Longfellow, whose genius has been powerfully influenced by the literature and historic associations of the old world, while in the choice and treatment of his principal subjects he is eminently American. Much of the poetry of J. G. Whittier was prompted by his opposition to slavery, and in occasional pieces he rises to a strain of genuine lyrical exaltation. Of this character are his “Massachusetts to Virginia” and “Astræa at the Capitol.” In other poems he unites tenderness and grace with much simplicity of language. All of his descriptive poems, but especially “Snow-Bound,” his masterpiece, are strikingly national. James Russell Lowell (born 1819) is one of the most versatile poets of this period, and has won high reputation as a prose writer by several volumes of essays, chiefly on literary topics. His serious poems are earnest and philanthropic in tone, elevated in sentiment, and of high artistic merit. He is perhaps the ablest of American satirists, and has gained a unique reputation as a humorist by his “Biglow Papers,” in which the peculiar phraseology of New England is given with great verbal and idiomatic correctness. The prose introductions to these poems have a subtle humor which can be best appreciated by those familiar with the local peculiarities they illustrate. Not less conspicuous as a humorist is O. W. Holmes, the most effective writer of the school of Pope, and distinguished by a clear, concise, and manly style. For the mingled pungency and geniality of his humor he is unrivalled among American poets. In his knowledge of local dialects and idioms he is not inferior to Lowell. J. G. Saxe (born 1816) is known chiefly as a humorous poet, and his verses enjoy considerable popularity. A. B. Street (born 1811) has devoted himself more than any other native poet to the romantic aspects of American scenery and forest life, and his works contain many striking and picturesque descriptive passages. Among other poets and occasional writers of verses of this period, all of whom have produced some pieces of high merit, are John Pierpont (1785-1866), John Neal, J. G. Brainard, Andrews Norton (1786-1853), Henry Ware, jr. (1794-1848), W. G. Simms, R. C. Sands, G. W. Doane, A. G. Greene, Rufus Dawes, Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, James Aldrich, George Lunt, G. W. Bethune, G. D. Prentice, Grenville Mellen, William Croswell, Thomas Ward, W. D. Gallagher, Park Benjamin, Albert Pike, Jones Very, Ralph Hoyt, W. G. Clark, Seba Smith, W. E. Channing, H. T. Tuckerman, H. B. Hirst, W. H. C. Hosmer, Epes Sargent, T. W. Parsons, A. C. Coxe, G. H. Colton, W. W. Story, W. R. Wallace, T. D. English, C. G. Eastman, P. P. Cooke, C. P. Cranch, W. H. Burleigh, Isaac McLellan, and J. T. Fields; and among the younger writers, J. R. Thompson, G. H. Boker, T. B. Read, Bayard Taylor, R. H. Stoddard, W. Allen Butler, P. H. Hayne, C. G. Leland, R. T. S. Lowell, T. B. Aldrich, A. J. H. Duganne, E. C. Stedman, W. B. Wright, B. F. Taylor, H. H. Brownell, Forceythe Willson, R. W. Wright, J. T. Trowbridge, William Winter, Joaquin Miller, John Hay, Bret Harte, Henry Timrod, George Arnold, R. W. Gilder, G. P. Lathrop, and Walt Whitman, whose unrhymed and rhapsodical