The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-19

Those who have lived through the
period between 1850 and now must
have been impressed with the greet
/ change that has come over Northern
! writer's in reference to Edgar Allan
Poe, whose Immortality in letters Is
assured. AS | have had occasion 10
mention before. and more than once,
his fame has deepened and Widened
Immensely since 1870, and within ten
or fifteen years the North. or some Of
its best cultivated men and women,
have learned To understand to appre-
Ciate the South'S supreme genius,
and the foremost among American au-
thors. In Great Britain you will con-
Stantly meet with highly appreclatlVe
references to Poe. A writer some time
ago in the london National Review"
discussing American Literature, more
frequently referred to Poe thar to
any other American, and said he wa
one Of the three greatest of American
authors. Poe was an exquisite genius,
and the student Of his writings should
read all-his wonderful stories, his
criticisms and his very artistic and
charmingly wrought poems. James
Russ II Lowell was the first Yankee
Of high gifts to recognize Poe. This
he did. as l showed some tirle 6 in
one of my articles in the News and
Observer. as early as 1876. 1t was
acute, highly appreciatiVa and just. In
it he showed thai Poe's poem T
Helen" written "rhen Poo was but a
boy, only some fourteen, was wonder
ful, Mr.. Lowell said of all his early
poems that they We're the best he had
ever read from one so young-that
there WaS none to compare with them
for maturity of purpose and a nice
understanding Of the effects of Ian
guage and metre What he recog-
niyp6 9S TO the moan '"Tn Hplon'' va
very penetrating and remarkable. He
said, for instance, that 'all is limDid
and serene, with a pleasant dash of
the Greek Helicon in it," and tina
the melody of the whole. too, is re-
markable s. it is of the finer sort
which the inner ear alone can esti-
mate. 1t seems simple like a Greek
column, because of its perfection"
That is what the foremost of New
England writer's, and a genuine poet.
said of the poem by a Southern boy
of fourteen. Poe had genius of q
superior kind. but a fool may never
see it. Mr.. Lowell had, as far back
as 1852, a proper and high opinion of
Poe as a writer of stories as we'll as of
poetry-that he had two of the prime
qualities of genius, a faculty of Wig
orous yet minute analysis, INC a Won
derful fecundity of Imagination The
whole essay of Mr.. Lowell is remark
c11> Va u INSIGHT hess, CdilUOT,
appreciation and admiration Of the
then young Southron. OF all American
authors Poe wrote more like a man
of genius. AS Sir Walter Scott taught
many eminent nOveliStS how to
write the imaginative and glowing his
torIcal SO Poe taught scores
or writer's the art of writing the short
story of rare ingenuity and complete
ness. Many famous writers learned
their first lessons in the
gift OF producing the wonderful good
things in the domain of romance and
the fabulous. mystical field of the
snort story from those two great and
richly endowed creators in the fictive
ART. The hlghes praise Poe ever re-
celVed was in England and France.
He has been recognized as the great
est of all American men of genius by
writer's of distinguished gifts in both
lands. His fame Will widen with the
passing of time. Now and then some
writer with clipped wings who thinks
he understands Poe, essays to restrain
his growing fame by pointing to errors
and limitations. But those who love
the best will know how to estimate
the most gifted of Americans.
When one gets to be old he will nat
urally think in meditative of
the past gone forever and forever
BY as we'll of the future and the
great, uneXplOred beyond. The transit
toriness of human life and the perish
ableness Of human glory and varied
PXDPrionrpS will annaor 70 I;,, &c