The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-05-29

Keats were dead; Wordsworth Sou
they, Moore and LandOr were past
their best works. Epic poetry was on
the wane. Scott had sbdlcated In favor
Of Byron and turned to move. writing,
such AS had given the world new taste
for prose. That which the Waverley
novels excited, the work Of Dickens,
Thackeray and George Eliot came to
put upon the high, firm basis OF living
literature; for the novel at the begin
ming OF the century Was a more or less
desplsed vehicle for thought.
TWO GREATEST NOVELSrS.
Dickens and Thackeray will have
found place In the future as the great
est novelists Of the century. One COM
plemented the other, and their work
went to show the wide field OF fiction
and Its possible bearing upon the
world, From 1887 to 1866 was the period
most fruitful of the English novel, and
in these years Dickens, Thackeray and
Eliot, at least, earned immortality.
with the English novelists belong
the English poets OF the same general
period-TSnnyson and Browning. II
no other flnger-print than Tennyson's
had been marked upon the nineteenth
cetury the period would have been i'm
mortal for Bnglish lyric poetry. The
Browning craze that came upon the
heols Of that poets success has made
his rank uncertain until another age
shall pass upon 1t. Still, aside from
his obscurities OF style and concep-
ton, he has done enough to earn
more for him than a resting place In
the poets corner OF Westminster Alb
bey.
Carlyle, Ruskin, Lamb. Froude and
a score of other great names belong
to the period.
In America the century began with
the English query: who reads an
American book?" As II In answer to
1t came Irving with his "Knickerbock-
er History OF New York" and his de-
lightful sketch Book" with the i'm
mortal story of RIP Van Winkle."
James Fenimore Cooper followed with
1.-THE Spy" and 1.-THE Pioneers" From
these Iprang a distinctive American
| literature that has been recognized as
| freely as 1t once was scoffed
MANY CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS
Nathaniel Hawthorne with "Tha
Scarlet Letter" in 1850 awakened the
world to the possibilities OF an Ameri-
can fiction. following 1t up with mas
terpieces that have put his name at
the head OF American letters. Mrs.
| Stoves Uncle Toms Cabin" coming
at time when the world was ripe for
this greatest Of all novels with pur-
pose, won fame for her. Emerson.
Holmes, Holland and others OF New
England settings have their niches
Longfellow has been the American
poet OF his age, with his "Hiawatha," "
"Fvangeline" and 1.-THE Courtship OF
Miles Standish." Whittier, Emerson,
Lowell, Holmes, Bryant, Pos and 9TH
ers have ranged down toward this
| end-of- the-century present in which II
is conceded that poetry IL not read,
and in which certainly very little pos-
try is being written.
France, leading in art has beer
second in letters. One needs TO name
only Victor Hugo and LES Misera-
bles" to fortlfy the assertion. Then
when Balzac and Dumas are named
the measure OF the place for France
cannot be questioned, out Of Its
stormy political history It's accomplish
mentE have been one OF the wonders
OF the century, until II Is recalled that
It has done little else than to quiet its
own public pulses that 1t might bend
energies TO art It's population is stag
d nant, Its growth arrested. zola stands