Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, February 1841Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, February 1841
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
The Dr. appears fond of the use of epithets, especially such ones as
“infernal, fiendish, hellish,” and other coarse adjectives. We do not
object to the use of the two former, provided they appear sparingly and
in place, but really the work before us is seasoned rather highly with
such epithets for our taste. The Dr. however, appears to be of the
Tompsonian school in literature, and not only spices strongly, but
swashes away right and left at the accredited school. We advise him,
once for all, to give up poetry, which he disgraces, for physic, which
he may adorn. God never intended him for an immortal fame. We are
satisfied that, if he should be arraigned for writing poetry, no sane
jury would ever convict him; and if, as most likely, he should plead
guilty at once, it would be as quickly disallowed, on that rule of law,
which forbids the judges to decide against the plain evidence of their
senses.
* * * * *
_“The Dream, and other Poems.” By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. Carey
and Hart, Philadelphia: 1841._
Hemans, Baillie, Landon, and loveliest of all, Norton!—what a glorious
constellation for one language. France with her gaiety: Italy with her
splendid genius: even Greece with her passionate enthusiasm, cannot
rival such a galaxy. And this glory too, belongs wholly to the present
century, for though the harp of England has often been struck by female
hands, it has heretofore only given forth a rare and fitful cadence,
instead of the rich, deep, prolonged harmony which now rolls from its
chords.
Mrs. Norton is unquestionably,—since the death of Mrs. Hemans, the
queen of English song. In many respects she resembles that gifted
poetess: in some she is strikingly dissimilar. The same pathos, the same
sweetness, the same fancy characterize both; but in all that
distinguishes the practised author, rather than the poetess, Mrs. Hemans
has the advantage of her successor. Thus, the one is sometimes faulty in
the rhythm: the other never. Mrs. Norton will now and then be betrayed
into a carelessness of diction; Mrs. Hemans was rarely, if ever, guilty
of such solecisms. Such expressions, for instance, as the “harboring”
land, the “guiding” hand, the “pausing” heart, the “haunting” shade, and
others of like character, taken at random from the volume before us,
though not strictly improper, yet, as they are plainly expletive, and
weaken, instead of strengthening a sentence, are never to be found in
the poems of Mrs. Hemans, or of any one “learned in the craft.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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