The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-01-27

ers claimed TO have bought IL OF GER
al Philadelph!a old book firm. The firm
stated positively that IL WAS one OF
number sold TO them by Poe's mother-in.
law. Mrs. GLENN. What then was the
meaning OF Poes "QuaTlesY Why d d
he hesitate TO sign his own name? Was
there not q hidden pun In this name or
the old English bard, Francs Quarles,
and did not Poe intend 1T TO mean 10
Hirst as Il sounds-Quarres? Their
quarrel was still fresh In mind. Poe had
added one or two touches only, let us
say. to the poem. but. therefore, ieit
some right. and perhaps poss essed some
the poem took its sudden leap into fame,
Poe could not resist the temptation ana
he fell He sought afterward TO ado a, "a
connecting link between the verses ana
himself by his Essay on Composition
Such is the new inference.
FOE WAS NO oBNIrHoLoGIsT.
Why should Poe have writer. the
Ravenf' Scarcely his own defenders
will allow that he honestly chose me
bird If he did choose IL at all. as d
symbol In the same way in when ne
himself asserted. ON the other mana,
this is his only bird poem Poe was
not naturalist. even If he did cq 9i'. -
a book on shells. lie knew nothing OF
flowers and birds In the intimate s@nse.
Could ne have been inspired 10 ne
Raven" through ms remarkable Sncllorh.
HOlmes-like iOreshadowing OF the piO'
of Dickens "Rarnaby Rudge, whlch
made Dickens ask if he were the 4eVli
himself. In sharp contrast 10 Zoe iiHst
was a bird lover. a great deal OF an
ornitholOgist IA well as an obserVant
comrade OF the little feathered songsters.
Audubon pronounced him to he the pest
amateur ornitholOgist in America, ana
he drew several bird plates FOR AleXah-
der Wilson's great work. lie wrote y
| Book of Cage Biuls." in which he treated
| even OF the diseases Of the imprisoned
| choristers Of our homes. His house vas
almost ayiary. he was endowed,
| too. with the rare gift Of being able to
| initiate the birds. Dr. Thomas Dunn
| Engl;sh-who by odd coincidence is also
| famous through single poem. Zen
| Bolt" and who also had a famous quar-
| rel with Poe-is one Of the witnesses TO
| this gift of Hirsts. The birds used to
| hy 10 him
| But. above all he was a poet Of the
| birds. lie watched them as he watched his
| foWers-with the transfigur ng eye Of the
| bard. In his poems he has left sancuiied
| memories Of his little walled-in garden
| idealiZed IN VeTse-and in THE Wren he
tenderly remembers certain day where
on one of his flowers blossomed and his
| lnnet sang for the fgst time. lie was IN
| his day almost the sole singer OF Ameri-
| can birds and flowers The rest sang OF
! the English lark the nightingale and the
| English meads, seen reflected in their
"In his poem of "The Raven" com
| mented Or. Woods. in his study, last
| evening, "Iirst has described The blIi
|
| 10 the closest observer. Have you eve.
| had a raven? / have-have had TWO. in
| fact and have been strangely lmpreaseI
! by the queer bird. 1t Is almOs, human In
| its slyness. or rather ! should say de-
| moniacaI Such is the spirit OF the b ri
| as revealed in HiIsts poem. It's tapping
| al the door, its lordly gait and preening,
| It's manner of hip-hopping by degrees TO
| a lofty perch it's ability TO aruculale
such word as 'Nevermore. al mes
| things Hirst had observed, but hafdy
| Poe HirsCs home was crowded WIN
| st,tuary. too" The Doctor did not di-
| vulgc whether or no there was a PaIHd
| bust of Pallas" just above Hrsts cham
'' "To think Of all the metaphysics that at
| the Doctor as he picked UP o"e or the
infeIV no mystery 10 the bird, except ms
association with evil omen The Diid
| himself is portrayed
THE Lot LtN0RE.'
"But how about the lost IGNORE
| Boctorf' tie interviewer interoSated'
! ."rbat IS mo poet came the answer
| as tne Doctor turned to one Of H.rst
poems. entitled "Elcanore,' lie READ
| mis- poem in a softly mournfm tone The
! interviewer was forced into an lnvoIui.-
| mittcd to the reader. ''EleanOre seems
| t. contain the germ Of the lost Lenore.
| The resemblance was, indeed, strlhlnG.
| The latter conception seemed 10 ne Iuly
contained within his earlier poem.
| "But what of the peculiar rhythm OF
| the RavenY the champion OF Hirst
| was asked. ,.
| The Interviewer felt that he had intro
| duccd the backbone Of the cO"tention,
| ana 50 DR.. Woods agreed.
"i-ae rhythm would seem TO be Poe s
| cher title TO the poem he stated, anu
| that Is one of the most convincing Tea p
| lures of Hirsts own claim. Eight years
| before The Raven was published, flirst
| used precisely that same rhythm
| Dr Woods thereupJn read Elrsts poem
| entitled The Unseen River The
| rhythm fully bore out the Doctors claim
| for 1t. 70 a person not acquainted with
| "The Raven" the verses would aDpear
| to ne from the same poem. That UNIQUE,
| haunting melody Of the Poe-accreditcd
| lyric characteri2es these stanzaS. which
| antedate II by eight years, and the
! rhythm is handled in the mastery man
! ner when has its prototype only in the
| later poem. Long before Poe formulated
| his celebrated definitions of poetry and
| beauty, Hlrst had declared poetry TO be-
| long solely TO nature as 1t existed in the
| mind Of the creator, and 10 the ideals
| of beauty.
ne pleaded long ago for beauty for
| bcautys sake" declares DR.. Woods. He
was the last of the Greeks HIS per
| sOnliications of nature are exquisite and
| forciblc. So sensitive was he to nature
| That ne could almost hear the lily tinkle
! IFS crescent bell. He would lie with
| his head buried in the g~ass for hours
| lie could hear the patter OF rabbits feet
| a mile away. So learned was ne i'm The
| murmurs of nature, that i'm one of his
| poems he actually describes the sound
| OF night creeping up the Delaware His
/ imagery. as of the bird-winged iris, is
| original and delicate"
| WHAT Hurst SAID.
| In speaking of The Raven" Hirst used
| Go declare, Il wrote all OF the poem ex-
cept Il few stanzas added by Poe. which
| he plagiariZed from Mrs. Elizabeth Bar
| rett Browning" This curious fact was
| rot discovered by Critic Stoddard uatu
| twenty years ago, although long before
| that Hirst told of this characteristic Poe
| borrowing from the English poetess'
| Lady Geraldine's Courtshp."
THE strange neglect of Poe by his
contemporar which has resulted in
| his modern obscurity" cmphatically de-
| clarcd Or. Woods, was due in my Opin-
| on, TO the enmdy Of clique. When
| the Philadelphia periodicals quoted his
| poems they Invariably omitted his name.
| His earliest work. The AntediluVians,
| had enjoyed quite fame and been no
| ticed in England. Christopher North had
| criticised Hirst. But a conspiracy seems
| 10 have worked against his later WORKS.
| lie became unknown. Stedmdn does not
! merton HIM in his American literature.
| WOoGberry knew of him only as a poet
| a.Uer through POes article on Hirst IN
his literati articles. The late DR. Holmes
| had heard OF him only once-through
| Bayard Taylor-and wrote me just before
| his death that he knew nothing about
! Hirst. And yet have found a poem by
! Holmes in the same number OF Graham 5
] Magazine with a poem by II .rst"
DR. Woods Is cTeditably known in let
| .ors as tho author of 'Rambles of a