New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
NR. srEDMAN's NEW VOLUME OF CR1TI-
CISM

Tho appearance Of this book is a notable event
A, Amerloan letters No such thorough ard con-
scientious study of the tendencies and qualities OF
our poetry has been attempted before, nor mas any
volume Of purely literary criticism been wrlIteh III
this country upon so broad and noble plan and
with such arcple power. We have had coilections
of brilliant ESSAYS. and Professor Tyler has begun
reneraI history Of American literature such
as we have long wanted; but Mr.. Stedmans
work stands quite alone; it has had no pre-
deoessor and it leaves room for no rival
The authors rare critical faculty Is tie
resultant of some fine natural gifts and
many exceptional accomplishments He has
quick and penetrating intelligence calm tudg-
msnt an exquisite sense Of beauty pure and lofty
ideal of poetic values and an Impartial tempera-
ment, seldom found in men of creative power
which enables him TO measure fairly even produc-
tions most offensive to his individual taste. IhlS
last characteristic is part of the final ana choloest
gift of the true critic-sympathetc insignia grit
which Mr.. Stedman possesses in higher degree
than any other American author who has made
criticism a particular study. Without the magic
light of sympathy, the keenest perception Oh 1orn
and moaning, and tho wisest estimate OF methods
and workmanship, leave the secret OF
criticism untouched. With this lllumi-
mating glow the critic attains his mgher
function and becomes an Interpreter. Most OF the
criticism upon letters and the arts In our perodca
publications is futile just beoauseit Is not informed
with feeling. When 1T is conscientious and pans
taking which is not too often the case, 1t reminds
rs of a schoolmaster correcting On exercise. Ito"
seldom it gets at the heart Of the work under re-
yiewl With what fatal facility it misses the
spirit the purpose the essential significance which
alone entitle the work to attention. Mr.. Stedman
is too fine q poet himself to fall into this lneptl-
tude A truo note of poetry wherever ,sounded'
never fails to stir responsive vibration In his own
sensitive heart. He speaks to us then with
fervor which we cannot resist.
His studies have been serious and far-rcachlne
not only among the poets, but in various depart
ments of prose literature. which have to be con-
edered in any review of the intellectual tendencies
of our time. All the distinguished singers III TACT,
who are discussed in this volume-aH except
Whittier-have double celebrity, and their prose
is examined no less carefully than thor verse
Five laborious years have passed in the compost
ton of tho book, but much longer time has been
spent in thought and preparation for It, Ten years
ago Mr.. Stedinan published his admirable review
of the victorian Poets" and his examination OF
the parallel period N America is in one sense the
complement Of that work. But in reality the
American book was the earlier IN his own mind,
and he regards as the more important His reasons
for assigning especial significance to 1t are well
stated in the preface; 81. American poetry, more
than that of England during the period considered,
has idealized-often inspired-the national senti-
1nent. the historic movements OF the land whose
writers have composed it. q This Nation already
in the second century of a growth which began
not in barbarism, but in political civilizaton-is
gaining in strength, population and the liberal
arts at an accelerative speed that soon must make
il n typical example of ideal as VOL 9s material
production Nor can there be time when the
bent Of IT'S idsality will be more suggestive than
now for the present angle determines the arc OF
the future 3. The first true course of Ameri-
can poetry has distinguished the principal
term covered in these essays; first
heat has been run during that time,
TO whose leaders special chapters are
devoted. 1t is rare that an epoch so definitely
begun and ended can be selected as the object OF
svrpathetic examination. The reader is invited
To study a period as distinct in literature as our
Constitutional period in politics. or the Thirty
Years War in history one, moreover, In which
poetry bore closer relations to the life and enthusl-
asm of a people than it often has borne IN other
lands and times"
Mr., Stedman begins with achapter on the Early
md Recent Conditions " of poetry in America, IN
the course of which ho makes some very acute re-
marks upon the debated question whether we
have, or not, q distinctly American school. To
this inquiry be answers, Yes; and, after
examining the characteristics which denote a
clearly national tone, he declares that we are
exhibiting in our literature and art less than in
the popular features speech manners, and the
aspects of our material life, type OF our own, not
vet completely rounded, but easily recognizable.
'There are signs of growth toward an imagination
in keeping with our political enlargement Tho
new Anerlcanisn, with relation to literature and
the arts of beauty and construction, is seen in the
very search for it, in the closer inspection Of our
own ground in our more realistic methed in the
genuine quality of our modern poetry and creative
prose, 90 much moro indigenous than the work OF
the Neo- Romantic English school, and presenting
so fresh contrast to the poetry and prose Of our
early periods; finally. in tho greater value set upon
our h1ne-workers upon our ventures fol
ourselves" The Growth of the Amer
can School is the subject of the second chapter.
Here with many happy touches Of illustration and
instances Of extensive reading and sharp discern.
inent, he presents a comprehensive and rapid sur
yey of the progress of the American muse, from
the era of The Bay Psalm Book" whose measures
"seem ito break from a cows horn or
Roundheads nose to the day of poets still livinl
and tuneful, whose activity cgerlaps that Of tn
great leaders OF our song period. This Is most
fortunate essay in compact and yet exact charac
ter,zatioa. and the reader who has been CARRIE
along by the quick movement of its terse sentence
will perhaps DO surprised if he turn back, to not
how largo choir has been examined and how
surely each has been assigned to his proper place
Such honest work this full-freighted chapte
represents deserves particular tribute Of re
spect.
The leaders of the song period, to each of whor
hir. Stedman devotes separate chapter, are Dry
ant Whittier. Emerson, Longfellow, Poe, Holmes
Lowell. Whitman and Bayard Taylor. His mctho
Of treatment includes brief biographical notice
which serve principally to indicate the poets rela
lions with the literary and other movements OF hi
time and the connection between his literary pro
duct and the circumstances of his life. In soT1
sases as IN those of Poe and TAYLOR, the persona