The Republican journal., 1903-01-15
EDGAR ALLAN POE.

EDGAR ALLAN POE.
-....u.el The series of vesper services
-.... 5n American Men of Letters
.i.. .,. Inc. niversaliSt church Sunday
re- .a. nth. The music was by
.a..,+i If F. G. Mixer, Miss Emma
-...5 Vii. Marion Wells, with Mrs. III.
1-..-,rt-r at the organ. Miss Wells
..... The Lord is Mindful of His
p4 Harry Lutz read the 2Sth chap
~ -5r nd extracts from the writings
.ste. tIan Poe, and offered prayer;
- tba .uuriegation sang, "Come, Thou
In...a' klus.
rs- l~.e. A. Smith delivered the ad-
...arf. tyeuing on Edgar Allan Poe,
.-gt.0 He mood" On account of the
am -a4 ADJ Ienea was small and Mr.. Smith
..,s,-H l5s hearers with the readers OF
. r,t.s. .-w in number, but select. One
fJ,..- r4a-e's minor characters says; IL
-.r- Ntlu under rhyming planet
ii ..r.. rae this may be of some of our
H.. u0,sbIy. perhaps, Whitman, it could
...... said of Poe. His work in poetry,
r.t.. small measure in prose, is con-
....xampJe Of his own definition of poe
- ,T94 rgythmetical creation of beauty
A.. a-.-l from Wordsworth, who called
..r. .pl.t Of all knowledge and from
ar.-c A-nold, who called it ''the criti-
RS. tIr Yet some of POe'S later poems
r..-..U. Ii. The nature and spirit, the sub
s.-....I .mm of poetry, as anything pro-
a... 4uerca. He made for himself a
... HI ornament place in American
-. much of POe'S life over which
.....- would draw the veil of charity.
-.a.-,, hortest, saddest and most trag
I. history of American literature.
g- .tr other poets lived the allotted
.aa ..-. ears and ten, and their days
.. -u-.nus and happy, No so with
-c M le and death were as ignobly
rWr Is poetry is nobly so. MI. Smith
ar. ..l accOunt of the life Of the poet:
and school days, his unsettled
-.,.0.. his irregular habits, his life in
fl uu at West Point, and his en-
I1. r .le field of literature. Poverty
.s- -eniuS, but he could not stand
uIried life, though brief, was the
a4a.. epoch in his life. He had true,
W.t -arrificing wife, and although in
-I-.t able circumstances than ever be-
% 4l Iaug work congenial to his taste
-.-- slave to opium and liquor.
j, s. Years Of his life were overshadOW-
.a '.- loom, and he no doubt now be-
a.-o.-ar the echoes of that saddest word
H lnman speech, "Nevermore. His
.4.. s. t- died in most distressing want,
9i.i.Howed her two years later, dying
l@F#s N circumstances shrouded in
-N-- iut One greater than all-who
4se INJURIES ago in Galilee-said II
lae HI' Jorondemn," and he counseled us,
5ise mot And in that spirit, said Mr..
Ga have told the life of Poe, and to-
@,l7 1T uS forbear even kindly criticism
nieasWe.
Zoe vas one of the earliest and keenest of
% a+lary critics. He was the first to rec
taz9 tie ability of Mrs. Browning and to
44+eai- Tennyson. when all the great
te> are bitter against them. When
da.t9-Ue wrote "Twice Told Tales" Poe
'@ ;.p rrst to recognize their genius and
5v~
0lJ IN 5 greater as prose writer or as
write ol fction than as critic. He is
aF Iahe If the modern short story. He
& tnr forerunner of the Conan Doyle
-oi story, in which he has done better
-'- bis successors. "The murders of the
~4 Nor1ue," "The mystery of Marie
'.eI aad THE Purloined Letter" are of
@'nd AS Irving wrote the first Amer
@l shoEt story in Grip Van Winkle," and
gpf the first sea tale in the "Pilot'', SO
F AEented the detective story. With
r We aIe in realm as unearthly as any
paole He was poet Of one mood, but
Hn define that mood? Poetry was
'I am Il passion. Critics in England
fIlce place him in the highest rank
s'r'tan literature.
ia4 Gayeu'' is generally taken as repre-.
"''- Poe at his best, but others of his
.''N al4 as representative, among them
'0Wr aud''The Haunted Palace" There
loautjng quality in Poe's writings not
" lo4nd in any other Can you find in
.'A single stanZa of such quality? II
fNFerSeS be read aloud the music of his
' apparent. 1t has aptly been term
efba music" By his power and orr
''1'y Poe has taken permanent and un
SS09ned place in literature, not merely
america but of the world.
'le service closed with the hymn "Thinl
T5 Of the erring," by the congregation.
third lecture of the course will be al
Dnltarian church next Sunday even
y at i,3o O'Clock, by Rev. Harry Lutz
Yeet, Emerson, the Yankee Plato"
Recention hv Cow AMI Mrs Hill