Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-04-02
sONNETs and POEMS, by PAUL H. HAYNE

/ have the honor to be your obliged servant,
P. S. BROOKS.
sONNETs and POEMS, by PAUL II. HAYNE.
This is the modest title of neat little volume,
recently issued from the press of Harper and Cal
70, Charleston. 1t has adorned our table for
month, and month ago ought to have been made
the theme of our best endeavor. But ours must
be o running pen and when discussing Carolina
book-the work of a master-hand, bearing, by the
way, q heart within it as steadily and warmly as
it grasps n poets pen-chaste, unique and most
beautifully flushed, it calls for more practised
skill than ours can pretend to be, even after so
long delay.
As the title indicates, Mr.. Haynes volume is
made up, for the most part, of sonnets-forty-four
in number. In the preface, the author makes
clever and very scholarly defence Of the difficult
school of poetry to which he has devoted his fne
TALENT with which, at the outset We are constrain-
ed to take issue. While we cannot admit, with Dr.
Johnson, that the Sonnet is incompatible with
the genius of the English language" we muslin
sist that the cultivation of its arbitrary and ar
tstic style is wholly inconsistent with the true
mission of the American poet Sonnet-writing
might, perhaps, be deemed valuable as an aid to
the study of the art-an exercise conducive to
directness and condensation of thought; but if
this be its chief value, we can only assign to the
sonnet rank with the school-boy's "composi-
tion," and preserve it, if at oil, merely for ''the
good it has DONE"
But even this meagre claim is to be regarded
rs of doubtful merit An appearance of most
elaborate polish, perfectly-fowing rythm, se-
we're and subtle manner of thought, that artificial
and unnaturally constrained air which the Sonnet
has about it, tend certainly to detract from the ef
feet of any poem. The fastdous Athenian thought
that the masterpiece of Demosthenes ''smelt Of
the lamp :" and so we fancied, as we perused the
exquistely polished lines which compose the bur-
den of the volume before us. Each thought came
out chastely. delicate, refined tersely-
wrought, and, at times, with all the voluptuous
glow of artistic beauty; but not as thing Of
life instinct with feeling, outgushing as fountain
waters, clear, sti ong, and rushing with gladden.
ing melody. It pleased US as the wax-fower
pleases; but it wanted the freshness and redo
lcnce of Natures spontaneous making Labor
seemed to be of its life blood and the idea Of
labor, even though suggested with the highest at
tainments of the art, is never more irksome than
when it attaches to the poem. The perfection of
art is to conceal art, We are told: the Sonnet
makes no suggestion more patent
Again, we doubt if the crowning excellence Of
this school of poetry-condensation of thought
be not if We may so speak, its most serious fault
thought, in itself poetical, will appear compara-
lively dull and prosaic, when too much abstracted
too clearly cardinalised. A rose torn from the
bush, though beautiful looses much of its lowell
ness when removed from its back. ground of native
vcndure; so poetical idca must be less attrac-
tive and less poetica, when deprived ofthe grace
full imajery and pleasing associations which are
wont to attend upon it.
The true poet must write of and for the masses.
beauty quiet meditation and
dreaming sentiment may please the mere litera-
ry epicure whose fastidious taste seeks only for
dainty tit-bits of word-paintng But to make
the great heart of humanity pulsate to his num-
oers, the poet must appeal to the great heart of
No tribunal is more jealous of its
court; none more exacting. If poet desires but
,;.I, A., of fha hn
nay consult the schools of the learned but if be
would be immortal, if he would cnstamp his
thought upon the world, he must write of the SIM
Die joys and sorrows, the heart.burning tbrobs Of
owe and hate, the commonplace emotions which
mpart intensest passions to the human life So
round the hcarths Of common men," lie must
forget to make of his words smoothly or grand
y flowing rythm-he must cease to invest an 'airy
1othingness' with "a local habitation and name
he must throw his werd enchantment around the
everyday thoughts and feelings and words of
everyday life. Thus alone can the mission of
our poet be fulflled-thus alone can he appeal to
mankind for name which they will not ''willngly
ct die" As we'll try to harness down the mighty
power of the elements, MS to ccnfine such human
thoughts with the .fourteens Of q Sonnet.
We need not prove that the poets success is in
he keeping of the masscs-in the current and
controlled by the sympathies of common life
Critics pompousy assigned to Byron and Burns
places on the sccond-rate list. And yet, the fer
'ency of Hate and Love, the intensity Of Misery
Ind Bliss, and the melahcholy splendor thrown
lround his lifc-labors, have made Byron in a
ense the most popular poet that has ever written.
The same remark, slightly modified is, true ofthe
Ayrshire Bard The lofticst flights of imag gina
ion, the widest stretch Of thought, the su5limest
can never exert that potent influence
,ver q people to which all give place under the
,nchantment of Burns glow of love, his exuber-
nce of JOY, his flashes of wit and Jon-hommie flow
# feeling! Milton trusted to his sublmty the
masses marked it for religions sake; and now, n
'ery select coterie appreciate Paradise Lost.-
Dante appealed to every passion Of the human
leart, and he has moulded and brought to living
light the beautiful Tuscan, which
&C. melts like kisses from female mouth"
Every thing around us is well calculated to
simulate the poet to this-his mission. Ameri
AN life, in its antecedents and its consequents-
n its past and present and future-in the extern
i and internal influences which direct and con-
rol its destiny--is fraught with the highest ele-
nents of poetry, and suggestive of its grandest
hemes. Within it, is a mine of purest gold; and