Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-25
NEW ENGLAND PoE1s AND pon-
TRY.
Mr.. Jacksou,, SECOND 1..c.u,.

heV. A. W. Jackson read the second In
ms serles Of lectures on New England Poets
Aha foetry,' to a select but not large audi
ence at the Court House on Friday evening
last the subject being Holmes the Poe, of
humor. In many respects the lecture was
more finished and scholarly production than
That which opened the course. 1t vas not
numbered with personal events and dates.
with which it is presumed the average listen.
er is familiar. and which occupied so much
Of the hour given to Bryant. Do We no,
nave biographical dictionariess And is i,
no, better to hear analysis and criticism from
master, rather than the figures which
may be found in Appleton! The lecturers
Introduction was taken up with some remark,
on the distinctions between wit and humor,
their nature and characteristics, examples Of
each being given. This part Of the lecture
reminded of much in whipple, and good
deal in that opening lecture Of Thackeray'-
course in this country in 1923, On the
English Hnmorist Of the Eighteenth Cen
fury, which volume will be read when his bes;
fiction is forgotten. wit is the sting of a
wasp" said the lecturer, "humor is the
nectar Of the flowers In his mention
Of Sydney Smith, Tom Hood Charles Lamb, /
and other English bamorists, his estimates Of /
their quality differed much from that Of
eminent critics whose right to be head is I'M
questioned. Arnold called the wit of Sydney /
Smith ''unrivslled among English prose /
writer's" but Mr.. Jackson gave him com /
mon rank. Many apt anecdotes or illustra-
trations of humor and wit in repartee en-
livened the first half of the lecture; one Of
the best of which was that of the remark of /
the poet Longfellos when introduced to q gen
tleman named Longworth Worth makes the |
man the want of it the fellow"-quoting line I
of one Of Pope's couplets. The lecturer
might have given the history of this polished |
play upon words" as it was actuall yspoken |
by Longfellow when introduced to the late
Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati, the father
of the American vine and grape industry,
who made a fortune from his vineyard of
Catawbas. We wish we had room to give an
abstract of Mr.. Jackson's Introductory analy-
sis of his subject as it was by far the best part
of the lecture. The illustrations were not
unfamiliar but they were well moulded.
The prose writings of DR.. Holmes
were briefly examined, but received
slight commentator save that charm
ing masterpiece the "Autocrat." His sharp
thrust at the culture, cant and arti icality of
Boston was just trihe strained, we think,
to originate in a provincial town. Coming
to the humor of DR.. Holmes the lecturer
said it was wanting in sympathy, and yet DR..
Holmes was not devoid of sympathy, for if
so. he could not be humorist. But his
humor was of the silk dress and sweet lsven-
ner type, an upper ten affair, made for the
occasion. High praise was given TO the
poem The Chambered Nautilus" and sell
tons were read from The Old Man Dreams"
from two or threee of his occasional poems,
given at class or society reunions, The
Last Leaf" and 'Bill and joe" Mr.. Jack
son quoted, approvingly, the judgement of
President Lincoln, as to the high quality of two
verses Vi THE Last Leaf'-but President
Lincoln, although a man of excellent com
mon sense, was not critic, and had but mar
row range of judgement upon literary sub
jects. Respectable and creditable rather than
great or enduring, was the final verdict of
the lecturer upon the works of DR.. Holmes,
our New England hum0rst-a Puritan OF
Purtans
1t is pleasant to note an increasing interest
in this course of lectures as evinced by en-
should be doubled at the third lecture for
Fri1av evening next, on Lowell, the poet
of satire