Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-04-23
BRITISH PAPERS REVIEW
COMPLETE POE WORKS
English Estimates of Poet
Show Fame and Influence
Continue to Grow Abroad.
READ LETTER Ar OPENING
Whit Whitman md Author of "Thc
Raven" Considered Greatest Fig
urcs of American Litcrnturc-Their
Work Belongs to World.

"orA "OTIU.
A recent publication by Constable
& Co.. OF London. OF British addi-
ton OF the complete poems of f. a.
Poe. edited by j. II. Witty, of Rich
mond, Va. has brought out much re-
viewing OF that book in the English
periodicals. Some of the reviewers
used the new edition, largely as a
text. for very unusual essays on the
subject Of Poe. About thirty OF the
reviews already have been received in
America. and the London correspond
ent OF the New York Times, in re-
cent issue Of that paper, devoted
much space to n review appearing In
tho London Times. Tho New States
man. of March %, printed Il review
OF more than page over the sigma
ture OF the well-known writer. Rob
ert Lynd. The John O. London Mag
azinc, Of March 1, ran three columns
ture OF Poe by Sargent. The London
Times article was unsigned, and
made two full columns.
There were reviews In other Eng
lish and Scottish papers. and one In
the Rotterdam Curnnt. The criticisms
of the three iirst-named papers were
the most important, and those OF tho
new statesman ana llincS AMY WTit-
ten; that In the Times might DO
classcd as brilliant. To an Ameri-
can student of Poe, these articles on
the poet give an Interesting and
rather new view of the present day
opinion OF Poe in the British en-
pirc.
Two Greatest Figures.
There. 1t Is now taken for grant
ed that Poo and Whitman are the
two greatest figures Of American lit
erature. and that their work belongs
to the world. The Times writer says:
whitman Is almost Il hundred per
cent American; Poe is not. Whit
man IL clean outside the English
tradition; Poe belongs TO 1t. AS a
poet he Is the successor of tho Eng
lish romantics: he learned from By
ron and Shelley and Keats, and he
taught Swineburne. No other Amer
!can writer has so clearly marked n
place in the English tradition rs Poe;
no Is necessary link In the chain.
To compensate. no great American
writer Is less distinctiveiy American
than he. This is not TO deny Amer.
icn's claim to Poe. or to suggest that
his life would have been of another
kind had he worked In England. But
Poe would ut least. have found con-
genial companions In London and In
Paris"
The Times writer. after finding nj
most Byronic freedom and flow IN
Poe's verses. saws: But he had Il
finer and more delicate mind than
Byron's. and some of his poems are
on an altogether higher poetic level.
while. in most of them. there can DO
found a few lines of n kind that
Byron could never have written"
Poc's "EndymIon."
This same critic thinks that. ito
n modern reader, al Anraaf might
Justly be called Poe's Endymion,
holding suggestions both OF Keats
and of Shelley. Yet, II must he very
doubtful whether Poe had read them
when he wrote Al Anraaf. 1t is
hardly likely that dozen books by
both these authors had crossed tho
Atlantic and less likely that two of
them fell into the hands of an i'm
pccunicus soldier In n Nirginian gar
rison. The point Is Interesting. Even
IL al Aaraaf owed something to
Keats and Shelley, 1t is still re-
markable achievement. But. as 1t
owed them nothing. 1t IS altogether
astonishing"
Mt. Lynd also quotes largely and
favorably in the New Statesman from
Poe's early verses. and both writer's
agree that "Annabcl Lee" and FL
hTt pcitct< HbcCihS, hS
Times writer considered Pocs trag
cdr as Il poet IN that he was com
PEELED to a compromise: he was forced
by the necessities OF his life to use
his great rhythmi,al gift in writing
poems that might pass with an
American editor OF the Martin ChuZ-
zlcwit period 1t is not surprising
that he gave up the struggle and de-
voted himself to work of 4 kind that
permitted him TO make n little money
without losing his self-respect.
Keats. without his $4,000. Shelley.
without his private income. would
they, we wonder. have written more
finely than Poe? But they would at
least have been sustained by a hand
full of understanding friends. 1t does
not appear that Poe had one
Critic Not Far Astrny.
And In this conclusion. letter
written by Poe himself. which will
be read Mt the opening Of the Poe
Shrine here in Richmond. the COM
inE week. Will demonstrate that tho
Times critic WAS not far astray.
While Poc's fame and influence con-
tinues to grow In America, these Eng
lish estimates OF the poet tend TO
| show that both keep well apace
abroad.
know this. that neither the Cover
| nor nor the new member don't speak
| to each another. and l amt calling
tho new member no strong inStnUQ-