The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-02-04
TIE GENIUS OF TIMROD.
NORTHERN EULOGIES OF TIE POET
IND BIS VORKS.

NORTHERN EULOGIES OF TIE POET
IND BIS FORKS.
The New York Worlds Estimate OF
Timrod's Place In Literature.
| From the New York Wcrl1.I
a sad interest centres in book just issued
| from the press of Messrs E. J. Hale & Son, oil
this city. That book is 1.-THE Poems of Henry
TImrod," edited with a sketch OF the peel's
life, by Paul b. Hayne. Henry Timrod was
the most gifted OF South Carolina's poels, aud
he was the real laureate of the Confederate
cause. He was born Ia 1929 and died in 1867,
one might say, without atretchlng The truth
very far, offs s;arvation. His father was poeI
bookbinder, who espoused the Union"
| cause In notification times, and penned a
poem, lot without merit, calling the sons oil
freedom 10 defend the cause of The Federation
| against the State His SOD, years afterwards,
took the Side of his State against the
nation, and though for some reason
not stated In this provoking memoir
he did not 60 10 The front anu pear
his part in the struggle OF Wnicn ne Nv was saGn m
an enthusiastic supporter, he may De saio IN
one sense to have died from the effects OF lhe
| Confederacy In reading Haynes skeich OF
| Timrod one is thrust back century OF least
to find parallel to his case. He was pure
| literary man. He hoped, Rs 30 many nave nopeu
before him, TO support himself and become
| famous by literary work. The result might
have been foreseen. He was unable TO supply
his modest wants, and his exertions made MIN
| famous In q limited circle alone. He turned
| journalist and would perhaps have succeeded
put for the celebrated march through Sonih
Carolina and the burning OF Columbia, which
W: ecked his hopes. He struggled on couple
of years and then died, neglected aud pennl'
lees. The leaders of the lake school OIL poets
appear as his great models, more especially
Wordsworth. He paid great attention to
his work when he was able TO per.
form it. Tlmrod was, as were all
Southern writer's, intensely Christian. Not q
shade of sceplicsm appears IN MS writings DE
seems, indeed, as II unacquainted win the
flow OF modern thought. He was, we are
told, a great reader, but as far as can be
Judged from what he has left us, his sympa-
thIes were narrow if sIrong-his muse harped
upon few strings. Our readers will under
stand that it is unfair to Judge of whaL might
have been from what was. The war derauged
Timrods literary plans, though 1t was the oc-
caslon OF his producing his three best pieces
"Caroina," "Ethnogenesis," and "The Two
Armies" Had this great contingency not
arisen he might have rounded out into poet
with at least national fame. AS 1t Is, the
pieces we have named ent!lie him 10 niche
In the temple OF fame. AS tor as the North Ia
concerned, they could not, OF course, be pop
ular. But with patriotism, so-celled, the lite
rary critic as such has nothing to do. Exam
ined by any known rule OF literary art, these
pieces deserve high praise. The language Is
well chosen, the sentiments lofty, always TAX
ing The standpoint of the poet-the only
correct standard to Judge them by-and the
metre carefully selected. We think no more
discriminating eulogy has ever been bestowed
upon the army whose "of1ce is beside the
bed, where throbs some sick or wounded
head" than Henry Tlmrod has given In 'TAe
Two Armies" TO which we have before re-
ferred. We can conceive OF no battles which
might be fought between civilized peoples 10
which this poem would not be applicable 10
the Ambulance corps" OF each side. II Is
nearer the universal than anything ever Tim
rod wrote, and therefore one of his best
poems. The ambitious poem. "a Vision OF
Poesy,"is fragmentary and patchy, though 1t
is not wholly devoid OF merit. The etory oil
Timrod's life will, no doubt, move the pity-at
least, it should-of his countrynen. and the
perusal of his poems, made accessible In This
beautiful volume, will provoke regret that
their gifted author should have perished 10
his prime.
The Opinion of the Literary Oracle OF
"The Hub"
From the Boston Globel
We have read with great interest volume
published by E. ]. Hale & Son, OF New York,
entitled 1.-THE Poems of Henry Tinirod, edited
with sketch oil the poets lite. by Paul a.
Hayne." Tlmrod was a poet, and, we are GLAD
to cay, Hayne Is G poet. and will long, we
trust, remain with us In the flesh TO justify
by works his right 10 possess that honored
name.
But la looking over the biography aud the
poems we have been anew Impressed al one
of the curiosilies of the old Southern society
Many of the planters wers educated and culli-
vated men. AS far down In English literature
as the Age of Queen Anne They made rlghlul
pretensions to Ue persons OF literary tasle-ot
course sneerDg at Wordsworth and appalled,
by Tennyson.
But for the literature produced In their own
region OF The country they seem to have had
little appreciation. Such literary men as
Hayne, Timrod and Smms were neglected,
and most of their readers were found 10 the
North of Mason and DiXon's line rather than
TO the South OF that boundary. The present
volume proves that, even In the height OF the
civil war, when Timrod poured forth his i'm
FASHIONED lyrics 10 ''6re the Southern heart"
he often was in that state of poverty which
implies q deficiency OF common food TO satisfy
common hunger.
In the old lime of the rule Of the Southern
aut0cracy Oh 6laVenOlueTS, Q0O0Qy was any.
body unless he developed talent for politics,
and that peculiar kind of States Rights poll
tics which was aggressive towards the North.
Every form Of intellectual exertion was con-
sidered subordinate TO Its political direction.
Even theology had seri's collar around Its
neck, aud was compelled to teach that Jesus
Christ came into the world to enslave negroes
as we'll as to save slnners. Sometimes 1t sp-
peared as If His first purpose was 10 keep the
blacks In bondage, and that the mere saving
OF souls, whether put into bodies black or
white, was qnlte secondary consideration in
His divine mission. AS for the principles Of
States Rights, they were, we are practically
told shOwered down from heaven into the
Constitution OF the United States, and that
Nj. Calhoun wac diVinely appointed 10 be
their Interpreter. The great regulations oil
the South from 1880 to 1865 were political or
military.
One of these great Southern thinkers and
writer's, Alexander H. Stephens, still sTf-
wives. he is doubtless O man of mind; but
his brain, weighed In critical scales. Is not
welghtier than many Southern men of letters
we might name, and he certainly does not
write English half as we'll. This raseed CAL
houn is and mas been power because he ls
and has been an accomplished politician. But
In Massachusetts we contrive 10 honor equally
such citizen as Charles Sumner and such a
citizen as Henry W. Longfellow. In New
York Bryant's great reputation is due 10 the
public recognition Of him as poet, and not
as writer OF political "leaders" ln the Eve
ming Post. In the North, diversity of indus
trial occupations has always been accompa-
tellectual aptitudes and tastes. Ia the South
IL haS hppD different Henrp ita npuppt Of