Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, April 1850Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, April 1850
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
The author of this curious dramatic poem is Mr. Judd, a clergyman of
Augusta, in Maine. Like Lord Timothy Dexter’s book, it is “a pickle for
the knowing ones.” In the strangeness of its individuality rather than
the originality of its thoughts is its hold upon the attention. The
writer has poetry in him, but it is most capriciously brought out in
connection with all sorts of moral and semi-moral commonplaces and
freaks of religious whim. All the proprieties of poetry are violated,
not from an inward law of dissent, but from an opinionated dislike of
established methods. The author has genius, but not sufficient genius to
produce a harmonious poem out of his materials. Still there are few
poems, lately published, which can be read with less fatigue, for the
audacities and oddities on every page are perpetual stimulants to the
mind. In passages, too, the volume is finely and powerfully poetical;
and in a certain juxtaposition of refined spirituality with the solidest
practical vision, the book is a prophecy of the author’s future
excellence.
* * * * *
_The Neighbors. A Story of Every-Day Life. By Frederika Bremer.
Translated from the Swedish. By Mary Howitt. New York: Geo. P.
Putnam. 1 vol. 12mo._
This elegant volume is the first of a new issue of the author’s works,
edited by herself, with prefaces and notes. The portrait and autograph
of the author are given in this volume, and the remarks with which she
prefaces it have the kindliness and good sense which are so
characteristic of her nature. “The Neighbors” is one of the most
charming idealizations of actual life we have ever read, and nowhere is
domesticity so winningly represented. An author, like Miss Bremer, who
is now personally abstracting so many hearts in this country cannot fail
to have purchasers for this edition of her writings.
* * * * *
_Miscellanies. By J. T. Headley. Authorized edition. New York:
Baker and Scribner. 1 vol. 12mo._
This volume contains seven interesting papers, originally contributed by
the author to periodicals. They are all striking specimens of Mr.
Headley’s peculiar powers of narration and description—a little less
flushed in style, perhaps, than his Napoleon, but indicating the same
vigorous abandonment to the subject. The best article is that on
Alison’s History of Europe. The Biographies of Alfieri, Cromwell and
Luther, are executed in a style which will stamp their leading traits
indelibly on the popular imagination. The article on Griswold’s Prose
Writers, which closes the volume, is unworthy of Mr. Headley, and should
have been omitted from the collection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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