Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-02
ZOE AND TIE ENa11sH roErs.

It is particularly irritating to the
Americans to be told that, after so many
generations of accomplished and vigor'
GUS writer's, the poetry of Edgar Poe
still remains the most individual poetic
product to which the United States
have given birth. This is annoying,
and they escape it by directnegation-
MIR. Henry James, the typical literary
American, even venturing to speak o.
Poe's Every valueless verses" such
men as Mr.. James ask us if we are sin
cere in preferring these hgnt tones oi
music to the intellectual force and
severity OF Bryant, to the humanity OF
Longfellow, TO the VIII Of Holmes and
Lowell. To this there seems an answer
which viii hardy satisfy any but those
who have made poetry their principal
study. These viii have perceived that
IL tie history Of the world what has
really preserved the memories Of writer's
Cf verse has not boen intellectual force,
or the clear expression of love and pity,
Or even wit, but q certain indefnablo
felicity of style; power Of saying things
es they never were said befpre, and SO
that they can never be forgotten. 1t IS
very remarkable thing that Elgar Poe,
Who was moi = man Of much weight OF
c;,,2::rr223ter. or even originality of intellect,
yet happened 70 possess, to very high
degree, b;i5 extraordinary gift of style.
In this no American poet has SO much
as approached him, ard it is probable
that this will preserve his verse, like a
rose petal in drop of glycerine, bound
TO decay because of its ephemeral and
disconnected condition, yet never act
uP|'y decayipg,
Here in England, where every IN
preiuiiced thinker must admit that
poetry has fourished since the begin
hing of the century far more than in
America, Edgar Poe has taken his place
SIS one of the fashioners of style. Wheth-
er his influence has been altogether
beneficial may perhaps be matter of
reasonable doubt. But his influence Is
not to be doubted. Long ago Mr.. Ten
nyson came under the sway Of his music;
Mr.. Matthew Arnold, in the "New
Sirens" and Mr.. Rosetti, In more than
one piece of structural melody, have
felt il; Mr.. Swinburne, though he has
so thoroughly conquered the notes and
made them his own, would scarcely have
begun as he did without "Ulalume
and the "Conqueror Worm.' But the
English writer who has most closely re-
sembled Edgar Poe in his mournful and
mortuary temper, though he wore his
rue with difference, was the late Mr..
Arthur O'Shaughnessy, whose Fountain
of Tears" and Barcarolle" threw more
light on the structure and value of Poe's
verses than pages of the cleverest criti-
cism. In France, where the cadence
and the verbal felicity were lost, the in
fuence of Poe, which was so strong for
little time, seems to have faded away.
We do not hear now of the gentleman
who was spending years and years on a
translation of "The Raven" and whose
version was expected by his friends to
be greater masterpiece than the origi-
nal Baudelaire's beautiful paraphrases
and commentaries, in which he man
aged, while retaining the essential char
acteristics of Poe's work, to infuse
strong quality of his own, will always
re of interest to students OF literature.
Pail Mall Gazette.