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

Lanier's Poems.

In spite of the limitations set by fate upon Lanier's poetical work, its high quality is evident. It is poetry that charms the ear with its rich melodies and stirs the spirit by its own spiritual power. A Ballad of Trees and the Master is a familiar example of this quality. How broad might have been the scope of Lanier's eventual achievement can only be inferred from the pathetically small amount actually produced. He had a vivid imagination and a masterly command of expression. His descriptive skill, evidenced in the blithe Song of the Chattahoochee and the Hymns of the Marshes, was very fine. The Revenge of Hamish is an intensely dramatic narrative. A deep moral purpose is easily felt in lyrics like Tampa Robins, The Stirrup-Cup, and At Sunset, poems which quite escape the didactic tone. But it is in the longer compositions, Corn, The Symphony, Psalm of the West, Sunrise, and The Marshes of Glynn, that the poet's genius is exhibited at his highest reach. In Lanier's scanty bequest of verse we recognize the beauty and perfection of consummate art; but the true source of his distinction lies for most of his readers in the cheery optimism of his message; in the splendid faith, the hearty sympathy and unconquerable courage of his own brave and loving soul. The strength of his appeal is itself an evidence of the truth expressed by the poet in the second line of The Symphony,--

"The Time needs heart -- 't is tired of head."

References.

In general, read Stedman's Poets of America, and refer to that critic's American Anthology for selections from the poets cited. Lanier is represented at length in Page's The Chief American Poets. Hayne's Complete Poems, with Life, were published in 1882. A Life of Timrod was included in the edition of Timrod's poems edited by Hayne. An admirable Life of Sidney Lanier has been written by Edwin Mims (Houghton Mifflin Company). Consult also Holliday's History of Southern Literature.

Aldrich and Stedman.

Representative of a generation younger than that of our chief American poets, yet closely associated with them in personal companionship and in the spirit of their work, are the two distinguished writers, Aldrich and Stedman. They form an interesting link between the present and the past. Holding more than a minor rank as poets, both are prominent among American men of letters; both achieved distinction in other fields than that of verse.

T. B. Aldrich, 1836-1907.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836. On account of business connections in the South, the family were for a time accustomed to spend the winter at New Orleans; but it is the New Hampshire seaport town which figures as Rivermouth, the home of Tom Bailey, in that most attractive romance of youth, The Story of a Bad Boy (1870). His father's death in 1849 put an end to plans for a college education; and in his seventeenth year, young Aldrich went to New York and entered the banking house of his uncle. He soon began, however, contributing to the literary journals and made acquaintance with N. P. Willis, Bayard Taylor, Stoddard, and Stedman -- the last named being only three years older than himself.

The publication of his beautiful Ballad of Baby Bell (1856) first brought popularity, although a volume of verse, The Bells, had appeared in the previous year, when its author was but nineteen.

Editorial Work.

After three years of commercial life, Aldrich abandoned the counting-room for the editor's office, and for the next ten years was associated with one or other of the New York magazines, his principal engagement being upon Willis's Home Journal. In 1865, he removed to Boston and took editorial charge of the publication