Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-05-30

of the Boston Post is not so smitten with the
new poetical prodigy of Glasgow as not 10 per
ceive some Of the defects oi his language
This censor remarks:
"The publishers have appended TO these po
ems various extracts from leading English jour.
nails They oil compliment Mr.. Smith in very
high terms. speaking both of his promise and
performance, and coupling him with Keats,
Shelly, and Tennyson. Some of the American
papers, we observe, are following tho lead of
their British contemporaries. They do MOI. in
deed, go so deeply into the subject but dismiss
Mr.. Smith with hearty praise ofa general char
acter, and an extract or two from some OF his
noted passages Whether they do or do not
really read the poems we cannot say but We
must wonder that some one has not told its
readers that combined with the wealth Of po.
etical thought and expression, las the AUaeam
hath t)--with the richness of fancy and force
ofexpression,' (as the Spectator declarcs)-
with the fresh, vivid, and concrete images.
thrown out with dlsinctiveness and delicacy
only poets can achieve (according TO the
Westminster Repieao)-with the 'Shakspcaran
felicity of expression (of the same spirited
quarterly and with the singular mastery Of
language in one so young (as the Sunday
that no one has seen fit or been able to add the
plain truth that Mr.. Smith is a horribly crude
and obscure writer. and that If every page he
studded with striking metaphors there are
many OF them t'lat do not hit any thing. Mr..
Smith is, beyond question, young man ofre.
markable powers. Some OF his passages fur
ample, that glorious oddress to the moon, and the
Il line asov IN ant
have been givenin the papers. Some of islincs,
also, are expressed with extraordinary force.
terseness, originality and elegance. We have
no doubt that he has the poet in him; but as
yet he writes as much nonsense as sense
He may, and probably will, grow to ne a po.
et He is man of mark, differing from his
fellows ofthe Tyre; but at present we should
doubt whether, upon the whole. his lucnbra.
tons were worth reading. AT any rate abe ut
sixty pages proved full dose for ourselves,
and we have no hesitation in avowing the fact
on the face Of all the published praise of the
queer compound.
at is all very we'll doubtless to talk of en-.
couraging rising genius, and to sneer at him
who honestly condemns when the crowd zig.
noranty or mott approve; but the plain truth
is that man of the real ability ofMr Smith
ought 10 be ashamed and ought to be made to
feel ashamed, of his mixed and false meta
phors, his belittling comparisons his obscure
and Inappropriate expressions. His produc.
tions certainly do reveal "a wealth of poeiical
thought and expression" but his revelations
are like the visits OF angels or the duels of a
dunghill-few and far between. We have
greatly enjoyed some, nay many, fresh, pow.
erfu., beautiful, and eloquent passages, lines
and expressions, in that portion Of the life
drama that we have read. But all this, while
it bids US rejoice in the advent of writer who
is likely TO become poet-that is to say, o
sufficient to make his works live forever
does not bind US to his many and gross defects
including namby pambyism and aaectatior
among the number"