Chapter Poetry, South and North of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Poets of the South.

Since the death of Poe, the South has not been represented by any poet of equal rank, yet it has been by no means without its representatives in verse, of whom one or two may be said to have attained national prominence. William G. Simms (1806-1870), whose contributions to American fiction have been described, was the author of several volumes of verse which enjoyed local popularity but which does not rise above mediocrity. Albert Pike (1809-1891), born in Boston, a settler in Arkansas, a soldier in the Confederate army, published in 1831 his ambitious Hymns to the Gods. Better known to-day is his charming ode To the Mocking-Bird; and best known of all his verse is the stirring war-song Dixie. In this connection mention should be made of Theodore O'Hara (1820-1867) of Kentucky, who, in 1847, wrote The Bivouac of the Dead. This martial elegy, upon which the reputation of its author rests, commemorates the death of Kentuckians who fell at the battle of Buena Vista. Another famous song of the South in wartime, Maryland, my Maryland, was the composition of James Ryder Randall (1839-1908), a native of Baltimore. Three Southern poets belonging to the generation which followed Poe have risen to more than minor rank. These are Henry Timrod, Paul H. Hayne, and Sidney Lanier. There is a pathetic resemblance in the circumstances and experiences of all. Each suffered personally the distressing effects of the war which interrupted the literary achievement and shortened the life of each. Both Timrod and Lanier died under forty; while Hayne, although surviving to the age of fifty-five, was an invalid for many years before his death.

Henry Timrod, 1829-1867.

The poet Timrod was born at Charleston, South Carolina. He studied at the University of Georgia, and began the reading of law. He had already won recognition as a poet and had formed a lifelong friendship with young Hayne, who was also a native of Charleston. Together the poet-friends entered on their literary career, and under the encouragement of William G. Simms they were associated in an editorial venture which proved short-lived. Timrod's poems, which filled but a slender volume, were published at Boston in 1860, his most elaborate composition being A Vision of Poesie, the statement of his poetical creed. Then came the war. Timrod's health was too delicate to permit of military service, but he went upon the field as correspondent for a Charleston paper. But this experience proved too strenuous, and in 1864 he became associate-editor of the South Carolinian, at Columbia, the state capital. When that city was destroyed at the entrance of Sherman's army, his home was burned, and everything that he possessed was lost. His poverty was so great that his family was on the verge of starvation. The last three years of the poet's life were years of acute suffering. A visit to the rustic home of his friend Hayne failed to benefit him; his health rapidly declined, and he died at thirty-eight. A complete edition of Timrod's poems was edited by his brother poet in 1873. Much of Timrod's verse is nature poetry, serious in spirit like that of Wordsworth, elevated and musical. His best-known poem, The Cotton Boll, is no less notable for its patriotic fervor than for its fine description of the snowy cotton-fields of the South. His highest achievement is seen in the beautiful ode At Magnolia Cemetery (1867), which closes with these lines:--

"Stoop, angels, hither from the skies!
   There is no holier spot of ground
Than where defeated valor lies,
   By mourning beauty crowned."

Paul Hamilton Hayne, 1830-1886.

Hayne was reared in the cultured and wealthy Charleston home of his uncle, Robert Y. Hayne, Webster's great opponent in the United States Senate. Previous to the war, he had filled two or three editorial positions, including the editorship of Russell's Magazine, the publication promoted by the novelist William Gilmore Simms; and, since the publication of his early poems in 1855, had been regarded as the representative poet of the South. Hayne served with the rank of colonel in the Confederate army. In the bombardment of Charleston he lost all his possessions, and found himself at the close of the war in the deepest poverty and a confirmed invalid. He then went to the barren pine-lands of Georgia, where he built for himself and his family a rude cottage on a piece of land known as Copse Hill; this was the poet's home until his death. He published a volume, Legends and Lyrics, in 1872, and The Mountain of the Lovers and