Smyrna times., 1894-04-11
TALKS ON AMERICAN LITERATURE.
HALLECK, DRAKE AND BRYANT.


of standard writer's. tbs believed that such q
course of reading. while primarily designed fol
the pupils OF the public schools may prove in
teresting to the general public)
Fitz-Greene Halleck was born al
Guilford, Conn, 1890. Although he had
written verses when a boy, it was not
until some years after his removal to
New York in 1911, that he gained any
reputation as poet. Here he became
intimately associated with Joseph Rod
mau Drake who joined with him in
writing the "Croaker Papers," a series
of satires that appeared in a New Yorv
paper in 1918. The year before the
same journal had contained a short
poem on Twilight" earliest effort
of Halleck's that he included in his
collected poems. In 1919 he published
Fanny" somewhat lengthy satirical
poem on the fOllies of the day. A few
quotations may at least serve to show
that some of our modern failings are
inherited ones. Halleck's description
of the social evolution of Fanny's father
could have been written concerning
some fathers of to-day.
I'm but poet-and bank-nOtes to me
Are curioSities, as closely eyed
- Wheneer get them, as stone would be,
Tossed from the moon on Dr. Mitchells table
Or classic brickbat from the tower of Babel
But he sing of, well has known and felt
That money hath power and a dominion:
FOR when IN Chatham street the good man
dwelt,
No one would give song for his opinion
And though his neighbOrs were extremely
Yet, on the whole, they thought him-a poor
devil. FO-
"A decent kind of person; one whose head
was not of brains particularly full
II was not known that he had ever said
Anything worth repeatng-'twas a dull
Good honest man-what Paulding's muse
cabbage head"-but he excelled them all.
"In that most noble of the sciences.
The art of making money; and he found
The zeal for quzzing him grew less and less,
AS ne grew rlCher; TIL upon the ground
Ot Pearl street. treading proudly in the might
And majesty of wealth, a sudden light
Flashed like the midnight lightning on the
Ofall who knew him brilliant traits ofmind
And genins clear, and countless as the dies
Upon the peacOcks plumage: taste refined,
WISDOM and WltWere hls-pernaps much more
Twas strange they had not found it out before u
So, too the story Of his entry into politics does
not sound unfamiliar.
"He learned that Clinton became Governor
somehow by eh ance when we were all
asleep;
That he had neither sense nor talent. nor
Any good quality, and would not keep
His place an hour after the next election
So powerful was the voice of disatfectiOn.
y
"And he had dined by special invitation.
on turtle, with the party" at HobOken;
And thanked than for his card in an Oration,
Declared to be the shortest ever spoken"
Has not Fanns granddaughter some of her
fOlles?
"she shone at every concert where are bought
Tickets by all who wish them. for o dollar;
She patrOnized the Theatre, and thought
That Wallack looked extremely we'll in Rolla
She fell in love, as all the ladies do,
With Mr.. SimpsOn-talked as loudly, too,
"As any beauty of the highest grade.
To the gay circle in the box beside her;
And when the pit-half veXed and half afraid
With looks of smothered indignation eyed
here,
She calmly met their gaze, and stood before em
Smiling at vulgar taste and mock decorum.
I'm all the modern languages she was
Exceedingly well versed and had devoted,
10 lnelE attainment, lar more time than has,
By the best teachers lately been allotted:
For she had taken lessons, twice a week,
For full month in each: and she could speak.
"French and Italian, equally as well
As Chinese, Portuguese. or German; and
What is still more surprising, she could spell
Most Of our longest English words Off.hand:
Was quite familiar in low Dutch and Spanish
And thought Of studying modern Greek and
Danish"
After financial disaster the unfor-
tunate family disappears beneath the
social current as swiftly as it would to-
day:
For two whole days they were the common
talk;
The party, and the failure, and all that,
The theme OF l0ungerS in their morning walks,
POrter-hOuse reasoning, and tea-table chat,
The third, some newer wonder came to blot
And on the fourth, the "meddling world for
got them"
1t was not, however, until 1927 that
Halleck's first volume of poems were
given to the public. This little COLI
lection contained besides "Marco Boz
zaris," his tribute to Burns" am" Ain
wick Castle" both of which were
doubtless suggested to him by an
European trip he had taken a few years
before. In 1849 he retired to Guilford
on pension of two hundred dollars a
year left him by John Jacob Astor
whose confidential clerk he had been
during the greater part of his New
York life. From this time on to his
death in 1867, his principal work was
the editing of two volumes ofselections
from the British poets, and a popular
edition of Byron. Few poets", says
Chambers Cyclopoedia, "whO have
written we'll and acquired popularity
like Halleck, have written so little"
Joseph ROdman Drake was born in
New York in 1895. Ambitious and
poor he managed to fight his way
through medical college, and soon after
taking his degree-(18l6)-gained lels-
ure for literary work by marrying the
daughter of wealthy ship-builder.
The "Culprit Fay" 1.-THE richest
creation of pure fancy in our litera-
ture," was the result of a discussion
with Fennimore Cooper and Halleck,
regarding the poetry of American
rivers, and though quite lengthy, was
written in few hOurs-he having made
a wager concerning the time in which
such a poem could be completed.
Drake is chiefly known, however, to
young Americans, through his patriotic
lyric "The American Flag:
nwhen freedom from her mountain height.
Unfurled her standard TO the air.
She tore the azure robe Ofnght,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of The skies,
And striped its pure celestial white,
With streakings of the morning light,
Then, from his mansion in the sun,
she called her eagle. bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand,
The symbol our of our chosen land"
Drake died of consumption in 1920
before his genius had fairly begun to
assert itself, though not before he had
made himself one of our most popular
poets. All America can unite with
Halleck in his beautiful tribute to his
departed friend:
"Green be the turf above thee,
Friend OF my better days,
None knew thee but to love thee
None named thee but to praise"
Francis Scott Key, like Drake made
his name immortal through patriotic
verse. 1.-THE Star Spangled Banner''
ufN I.