New-York tribune., 1909-03-12
THE POE CENTENARY.
authors Club Dinner IN London
1Ir. Reds address.
m The London Times, March ?.

immediate right and left MI Whitelaw Held,
the guest. and Mrs. Humphry Ward; ana
among the company. which numbered about z9V.
were Admiral Charles II. Stockton tAnerlcdh
delegate to the Naval Conference Mr; J. Rlogely
Carter secretary to the American Embassy, and
Captain Poe, In the recess al the rear OF the
chairman was an enlargement or a meoalilon
portrait Of Poe. executed by MI Albert bruce
Joy. supported by the Union Jack and the stars
and Stripes. The tables and walls were deco
rated with American and British emoiems, ana
at the top Of the table, in front OF the cndliIia'
the American eagle The Work OF organ
izing the celebration entailed much labor ana
correspondence the greater part OF Wlncn lJ qS
volved upon Mr.. Algernon Rose, the honorable
secretary of the club who is to be congratuated
on the success which attended the occasion
Mr. Whteaw Reid, who was cordially greet
ed, said: II is quite true that my countryHlen
ought to have the first interest IN the very note
worthy centenary you celebrate But TINS ID
far from implying that their official representa-
tive in this country is at all entitled TO the
place your partiality has assigned him, or that
America in general has shown adequate appre-
citation in the past for this son of hers whose
memory you have met to honor. The celeora,
ton tonight Is a little late, for reasons well
known and quite sufficient-Over month after
the actual date, hundred years ago, on Whicn men
Edgar Allan Poe entered upon his troubled NE
The fact itself is quite in keeping with ms
career. Everything came to him too late IN me-
in death, especially in his own country. Even
when good fortune seemed ready TO press itselr
upon him more than once during his life, MS
temperamental waywardness. heedlessness, lr-
responsibility. kept him from appreciating the
opportunity until too late Now, long after ms
French literary tribunals have accepted him as
one Of the immortals, his countrynen yet wait
even beyond the century. still hesitatins 10
place him with their other literary figures, some
surely far smaller, in their Hall Of Fame
Few OF them indeed would to-day go SO far
in his honor as do some OF your British au-
thorities They would pause. for instance, at
the decision of one that Poe is the most inter
esting figure in American literature ana they
would be almost startled at the further dictum
that few English writer's Of the nineteenth
century are likely to have q more enduring
fame" Americans confronted with that VerulcI
would be apt to recall the great Georgian and
Victorian roll Of English writer's. ana wOuIo
then reflect that they had themselves writer
named Nathaniel Hawthorne, ana anOtner
named Ralph Waldo Emerson. and another
named Benjamin Franklin. In fact, my coun-
trvmen for once have been slow Claughter),
American product. His genius, so frankly ana
generously recognized abroad, Is Of course no
longer questioned. But we TAKE pans p 70 re- re-
member that II within certain narrow ana
sharply defined channels; that II frequently
failed to reach the highest and pest human
emotions; that it was often morbid ana some
Yet. With all abatements Poe's place was
surely in the front rank il not at the very head.
among the worlds tellers Of short stories
(CheersD Who has since given us. in such per
feet English, the indehnable mystery and tne
shuddering sense of implacable fate. pervadlng
air. earth and sky. lake and Forest mousse anu
people. which all recall whenever We think
OF THE Fall of the House of Usher? Where
has the fendish perfection OF revenge been pre-
sented more powerfully or more briefly, or with
more artistic reserve than in The Cas of Anon
tillado"? Nay. gentlemen may l venture to ask
in this presence, In view OF the generous refer-
ence made to the subject by the chairman VINO
was the legitimate and inspired fOrerunner OF
the immortal Sherlock Holmes himseH Il II P'Ie 1oe
the author of The Murders in the Rue
Morgue"? And who pointed the way TO Ireas-
ure Island" if not the author OF The Gold Bug
Where indeed are the Tales of the Arabesque
and the Cfrotesdue" TO be surpassed in their own
field in the literature of America or of England
or OF France Of the world? tCheerso
y 0Ns ma
YOU who may have COincided tolerably thus Iar
with what l have been saying viii surely us
sent 1 do not think Poe's place in poetry so so
high so secure as his place IN the teHlhs OF
short stories. I admit at once the Incompatible
rhythm. the mastery OF the wonderful music
that may be married to English verse the SAD
haunting tenderness, melody and mystery The
technique of Poes poetry is perfection Inc
general American public, more generous 70 MN
here by far than in any other feature OF MS
work or his life, would probably put 'Annaoel
Lee The Raven and 'LenOre' among tne
very finest poems. perhaps the finest, in the
literature of the New World: while Judlcious
few would surely place beside them TO Helen,
"Israfel" "'J-lalume" and some others.
Yet perfect as they OF their kind. they
still seem to me to lack the highest poetic merit
the soul is not in them. How could II be- Here
is a man OF genius who enters the pOetlcaL
field with the avOwed and serious belief that q
long poem cannot exist; that the epic is
mania and the didactic a heresy; that the
truth has no sympathy with the myrues; @ mat
I'm fact poetry must be solely and exclusively
the rhythmical creation Of beauty; that with
the intellect conscience II has only collateral
relations, and no concern whatever either WIN
duty or with truth. Do not think l am mis-
representing him These are his own express
s!ons not from some mad extravaganza, but
from his soberest and most deliberate enort 10
define the nature OF the poetic art on such a
conception how could the utternost heights De
attained? Not so was conceived the immortal
poetry that reverberated through the organ
notes Of Milton. on no such theory or poetic
limitations were written the sonnets and plays
touching human nature with intallible truth az
49, gsY71
peare- Far different was the inspiration or the
great Georgian poet who wrote the ODE 10
Dutys'-"stern daughter of the Voice OF God
or OF that supreme master of the didactic and
the beautiful the author Of In MemOriam-' Far
different indeed the inspiration Of that later
gallant spirit who from his bed OF constant pain
set the soul OF empire 20 verse in nat
have I done for you, England my England?
(cheers); or of that other, OF whom Marx IWain
finely said at oxford that his fame envelops the
world like an atmosphere. who put the heart 3
prayer Of that empire on great occasion into
words in his God OF our fathers. known OF old.
lord Of our far-fung battle-line."
There have been Americans. too who thought
try: and broke the withes in which Poe sought
TO bind it, 1 spare you multitude OF examples
from the Concord Hymn" and the building or
the Shin" and the Song of the Camp and the
"Chaub bered Nautilus and the Harvard Com
rnemoration ode" and the stirring lyrics of our
Civil War. and many more But may read to
Won lust one stanza by poet with as many
yagaries as Poe himself. but whose best pas
sions were truth and his country? It relates to
q great American, one OF lIle sLedt AIeH VI a.
time whose centenary fell also in the same year
and month with POe's and take 1t as the first,
not the best. in the short poem;
o Captain my Captain. fearful trip IS done.
The shin has weathered every rack. the prize we
The poTt is near, the bells hear. the people all
exulting,
While follow eyes the steady Keel the Nessel
grim and daring.
But o heart, heart! heart
o the bleeding drops OF red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
-, - ~. hoo,,,sa 4, noatry poa oer,-arsatv