The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-12
THURSDAY. OCTOBER p, 1906.
Love makes all things pure a'o
heavenly IKE Itselt'
poe ard the Hall Of Fame.

Poe ard the Hall Of Fame.
7, VAS no doubt inevitable that me
recent selection Of names for me ~"
@york Hall OF Fame should lail " siso
,,,,ivo1sal6 satisfaction. The judges, u'l-
..,,,,tod,v had n somewhat difficult tnsN
.s, ~, ,hem It was their delicate ousl-
ness 10 appraise the abstract " = i" ~
@,hc depths Of genius, 70 lay inc ft'essu'
sgi,..rod 10 the bubble fame. ina I IN NY
,,roress they should have mace oeel l' -,
SSwhich. to n fair proportion Oh lhteilisett
,3arsons would appear unwarIanteo WI" was
81, aoubt 10 be expected. But nopouS'
10 imagine, would have looked TO see ny
rtantlemen fly so fatty IN the IA" te = n
accented standards as they have aohc -
3,nt,nr adversely on the name Oh l1us'Air
ALLAN Poe.
3417it, duc respect TO the competency u
%I., 4. \, 80. who were no doubt altosetlcr
transformations and atsleast as Tree Ai 'o0''''#
Mif,dividual prejudices as theS cou'" -
#thcmselyes, it is most difficult 10 w.
F.,,,a Inc of reasoning which lcd thei'' -
the rejection OF Poe. Chancellor VIZ
%{l.rnc,,en. possibly approaching lt1ae so'''o
=, (, =. I'm was desirable, assures ~ q q
nr,owhat disguised public that tha great
Z. .,,,arsonnl habits, had nothing 70
q ia With his failure to secure d tao'e -
81 III. cyc,uslo,l is MOTTO be ascriDeu 20 ta. Wy
s ,ssqq, .,,o,nd virtue Of the New EngH'hn
c,,,,sriencc, But his poetry. explains INC
f.Sanccllor, ufnlla short OF Haii o. f""t'
553Et4 nov, ~, rfjs III lacks the passion !" 'i'e''
,,,, n,.,ounds as the third element
necessary to poetry Of permanent "ortH''
6ii. wanting In earnestness, depth al'o Sun
ocrilv. How far the literary experehess
mi chancellor McCracken and MS ohe
trndred Judges justies them in passing
s,,cb q criticism we are not advised. oul
@.,,Fis interesting to note that their 9uas-
* ,,cnt is directly opposed to that o. NC
lending critics in this country ana aoro'iu'
with the passing years, the rchlness u
poe,s genius and his supremacy IN A1nei'-
ran poetry have been recognized Wherever
rocorn;t,on is worth having as more anu
,,ore unn,istakable- In Europe men ana
,.o,,an of culture know Poe, and they
Know Hawthorne, and beyond these IVY
srames they are, for the most part u''uer
no distlnes impression that American
l;tcrat,,rc.4,a.y. as get no existence,
B,,t Il IS not necessary 10 ponttto the
n,,,hority Of accepted criticism 10 show
mat IN voting Poe unworthy OF Han
,r Fame tablet, the judges have given
lust ground for profound dlsapproVa. y
no American poet had been esteemed
worthy Of this honor, It might have been
Inferred that the judges chung to an even
higher poetic standard than that hSea
IL, the best criticism OF our day In Vot-
,ns fayorably, however, upon the names
NJ Two other poets, they have rendered
his more agreeable inference out OF the
question. BY a majority vote they
have determined that James Russell
owe,l and John Grccncaf Whit
Ter are worthy Of the honor winch
they denied 10 Poe In view of tho eX-
r,anatlon of chancellor McChacken, quoted
.hove we are TO understand that It was
The work of the poets, d!sassoc!atea from
their personality. that furnished the sole
criterion; and so we must gather That
these wc!l-meaning gentlemen have put
& themselves on record as believing mat the
pootry of Lowell and Whittier Is greater
than that Of Poe
we despair Of following the judges
through the line of reasoning that brought
~ them 10 this most extraordinary conelu-
sion. lf Lowell and Whittier are great
meets, il becomes more than usually diff
cult to determine what great poetry IS
Apart from "rhc Vision OF Sir launfaG
and one or two others, Lowell wrote
nothing thar we know OF which Is likely
10 Use out the next generation or Two
He wrote a grea quantity OF verse about
ia COED ms that which numbers OF younf
men arc turning out seven days weei
for The columns OF the newspapers
Whitticr-ihe sweet singer Of liaVerhill
would seem hardly to have even the I'm
mortality OF Lowell a few Of his poems
win doubtless finger u While In The schoo
AZ reader but even the fame Of Il schoo
reader Is transitory. In short, we fee
that we are not rushing too rashly int
prediction when we antrim our conyic
"a Ton that long after Hosea Bigelow an
Maud Muller are dust in their forgottG
graves, Annabel Les, will still be dis
playing the beauty and graccs q he
" Immortal youth n.t.3 r.s
The faulty jldgihent Of the New Yor
# Judges SIS after All only an aanoyin
< Incident ~ is Of no real consequent
VI r