Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-18
AGES OF AUTHORS
The Period in Life When the Great
Masterpieces of Human Genius
Have Been Written.
Forty Years or Younger.

sense because of her young writer's. II
is impossible TO write wsll before the
sge of forty" II. Renan is a better
judge of the condition of letters in his
own country than anyone on this side of
the Atlantic. He is q man of wide Gull
ture and an author VINO, as a philosi phi
cal writer, occupies high position in
the world of book making. French
literature is not what it was g quarter of
a century ago. Compare the writers of
today with those of that period. Not
one, not all of them, is equal TO Balzac or
Hugo. And Dumas, the elder, is beyond
their reach. The gulf between the two it
would be hard to measure.
But is that other assertion made
by NJ. Renan, that it is impossible to
write we'll before one IS 40 years of age,
strictly true? This is one of those ques-
ons which it is easy to determine, be-
caase IL is not difficult mater to array
facts and draw conclusions. Undoubted-
ly the strength OF mantle full fruit
ion Of his mental powers-reaohes its
climax, as rule, during the decade be-
tween the age of 40 and 90. Il is also
true that many of the worlds greatest
literary treasures were written after the
author had reached his 50th year. In
some cases even the 60th mile post on
the journey to the grave had been passed.
But 1t is not true that as gen eral rule
authors have been unable to accomplish
great results before the age Of 40. Let Us
take a retrospective glance over the
ing and instructive.
Cervantes, the great Spaniard was so
years OF age when he finished Don
n -
onment.
Dante was also so years old when he
com pleted his Commedia.
Manzoni, Italy's greatest novel writer,
| wrote The Betrothed when he was As.
In Germany, Goethe wrote. his Sorrows
of Werther when he was %. The de-
lis htful book made the young author fam
GUS at once. He wrote his celebrated
drama Goetez Won Bsrlichingeu when he
was "a; his Iphegehie at 80, Egmont at 80,
| Wilhelm Meister a. AZ, and his majastio
dramatic poem, Faust, when he was SO. He
had been planning Faust in his mind for
many years previous, but it was put in
form and completed when the great Ger
man philosopher and poet had passed the
meridian Of life.
| Schiller was 10 when he wrote The Rob
bers, and &c when he composed Don
| Carlos.
| Leasing was 81 when he wrote the great
critique, The LAGOON; 43 when he wrote
his tragedy, Emelia Golotti; rs whan he
gave 30 the world his charming comedy,
Minna Won Bernheim.
Heinrich Heine, wit. poet, satirist and
philosopher, omposed his first lyrics at
% his Youthful Sorrows. At IS he wrote
his celebrated observation-disclosures of
Travel.
| We come nov to tho authors OF n
Remains own couptry-France. Moliere,
the greatest of French dramatists, gave to
the world his plays at the following age:
LES Fcecieuses Ridicules at 81, LEcole des
Femtnes at 40, Tartuffe at AZ and LIE Mis-
anthrope, his masterpiece, at As.
Racine, another great dramatist, ex-
| ceiling in the field of tragedy, wrote An
dromaque when he was %, Iphegenie en-
AuIide at So, Phaedre al 80 and his best
; tragedy, Athalie, at 50.
| Correiiie, q great poet and dramGtist,
wEote Nellie az %, the Gid at so, 2 per
feet work, and at 81 he wrote his finest
.raLedy, Polyeuote.
| Voltaire was "a when he com posed
Gdipe and So when he wrote zaire.
Rousseau wrote not much of any i'm por@
lance before he was 81 and then it was an
essay for prize offered by the academy
at Dion, which he won and became cele-
br ated. He penned his Julie at As and
his Heloise at ~.
| Victor Hugo wrote volume OF odes
and ballads at 20, Marion de LOrme at
So, Ruy Bias at IS, Les Miserables, his
greatest work, at go, and the Toilers of
the Sea at 63.
Dumas. the elder, was 25 when he wrote
The Three Musketeers and AZ when he
wrote the Count of Monte Cristo.
| Bslz4c gave to France mis- Physiology
Of Marriage at 81, and his Comedie Hu-
maine, including Pera G0riot, Cousin
Pons, Eugenie Gcandet, etc., after he was
35.
LIE Sage composed his Gil Bias at the
age of ~.
The history of English literature shows
8 ripening of genius at very early age.
1t Is interesting 70 read M. Tia mes his
tory of Eeglish literature if only to find
a Frenohmal's reasons for this remark
able blossoming Of the higher forms of
the intellect. Carlyle wrote Sartor r.
s8rtUs az 80, the French Revolution at AZ.
Rober5 Barns is an exception to all
| rules. He was a divine genius. Shake
speare is also sn exception. He likewise
possessed the true divine spark. Burns
wrote his Poor Mailie's Elegy and John
BarleycOrn at ]9, and all of mis- best work
vas doue before be was 20.
As the age of 20 Shakespeare wrote
his Lucrece. His Venus and Aaonis was
com posed at an earlier age. When he
had reached 3d. many of Lis best dramas
had been written, Richard Ill, Merchant
of Venice, Midsummer Nights Dream,
| Richard II, and Ais Well That Ends
Well. At 40 he wrote Hamlet.
Bacon was 40 when he wrote the Wis
dom of the Ancients, and past so when
he flushed his Noyum Organun.
Goldsmith. Vicar of Wakefield, Sc; The
Traveller, Sc; The Good Natured Man, 80;
Roman History, Al; She Stops to Con
quer, A; History or Animated Nature, 46
S5erne, Tristram Saandy, 46; The Sem
timental journey, So.
Fieldipg, Love in Several Mosques, 20;
Joseph Address, 80; Jonathan Wild, SO;
Tom Jones, AZ.
Byron wrote ChiIde Harold when he
was q.
Milton, l. Allegro. Ii Penseroscl Comus,
%: Paradise Loot, 81.
Keats, Encymior, %; The Eve of Saint
Agnes, "a.
Gray, Ode to Adversely, So; Elegy in a
Country Cburchy ard, 43.
DR.. Johnson commenced his dictionary
at the age of SO, wrote his Rambler at Al
and his philosophical novel, Rasselas, at
so.
Thackeray, Michael Angelo Titmarsh
papers al 80; Vanity Fair, 35; Pendennis,
80; Henry Edmond, Al; Vlrginians, 46.
D ckens, Boz sketches, "a; Pickwlck,
II Oliver Twist, 26; Nicholas Nlckleby,
! 21. Rarnah4 RuGue. Old CuriositI ShOp.