plant, flower, and tree. At his best, Timrod is frequently suggestive of certain passages in Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Paul Hamilton Hayne, born a year later than Timmrod, came of better parentage and was more robust in person, his education was less interrupted, his war experience more fortunate. A comparison between the two men comes back always directly or indirectly to the physical strength in Hayne with which Timrod was not endowed. Assuming that both are essentially Southern in character, in poetic imagery and allusion, in choice of subject-matter, and in point of view, certain contrasts present themselves. Hayne with his more abundant vigor is at times strident where Timrod is simply passionate. Hayne has a tendency to declaim his feelings, and so strong an inclination to make them known, that at times he appears to lash himself into a state of frenzy in order, as it were, to have something to talk about. Timrod shrinks sometimes from self-expression, because a thought once uttered ceases to be his own. Hayne's pleasure in selfrevelation and in gaining an audience is revealed by the great volume of his work compared with that of his friend. In subject-matter this superior masculine robustness determines further contrast between Hayne and his townsman. In the first place, he lived long enough to see the reconstruction and reconciliation for which Timrod prayed and hoped until the time of his death; Hayne consequently celebrated what Timrod could only invoke. However, as he was given to the enjoyment of self-expression, Hayne tried his hand at poetic construction other than lyric. He composed a variety of legends derived from classical, later continental, and contemporary sources, and wrote a large number of poems in memory of Northern, Southern, and foreign distinguished

men.

REVIEW OUTLINE.-Recalling Emerson's attempt to compromise the charms of solitude with the call of society, note in what respects both Whitman and Poe fail to keep that perfect balance which Emerson advocated and succeeded in maintaining. Give the main facts in Poe's life. What was the tribute of Nathaniel Parker Willis in contrast to the common estimate of Poe's character? Into what

three divisions did Poe separate the world of mind, and to which did he elect to devote himself? What were his convictions as to the legitimate length of a poem, its subject-matter, and its dominant mood? In what sense should his stories be read with the same kind of attention which is demanded by poetry? In terms of the credibility of his stories, what general classes can be made? How does Poe secure the vividness of interest in his narrative, (a) in the setting of his stories, (b) in the methods of introduction, and (c) in the lyric or emotional quality? In what degree do his stories reveal the limitation of Poe's own experience in the life of the world?

Contrast in its main events the career of Whitman with that of Poe. What were the circumstances attending the reception of the first edition of "Leaves of Grass"? In spite of these facts, what was the history of the successive editions up to the time of his death? What concessions have to be made in connection with Whitman's style in point of structure and diction? What defence can be made of it in spite of these damaging admissions? Whitman, in a measure, was a Transcendentalist. How does this show itself in his attitude toward the individual, toward the democratic life of the community, and toward external nature? Is there a reasonable explanation for Whitman's failure to secure a wide reading in spite of the fact that he aspired to be a poet of the people?

Since early Colonial days almost all American literature up to Civil War time emanated from the North; now a group of Southern poets appear. What is significant in the parentage and descent of Sidney Lanier? Give the main facts in his life. Note his combined desire to do a work at once as an artist and as a moral agent. With what success does he make this attempt?

The two Charleston poets, Timrod and Hayne, are more limited in their outlook than Lanier. In what respects is their work definitely Southern in its quality? How may the two be compared in point of vigor of physique and character, and in what evident respect is this contrast between them discoverable in their manner of writing and in the nature and variety of their production?

READING GUIDE.-Readings from Poe should include from his verse, "Lenore," "The Coliseum," "The Raven," "Ulalume," "Annabel Lee"; from his prose, "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Gold Bug," "The Purloined Letter," "The Cask of Amontillado."

Good one-volume biographies are by George E. Woodberry (American Men of Letters series) and W. P Trent (announced for English Men of Letters series).

Readings from Whitman should include "There Was a Child Went Forth," "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," "I Hear It Was Charged Against Me," "Mannahatta," "Myself and Mine," "A Broadway Pageant," "The Wound-Dresser," "Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun," "O Captain! my Captain!" "Ethiopia Saluting the Colors," and others as time permits. The best onevolume biographies are by Bliss Perry (Houghton, Mifflin) and by George R. Carpenter (English Men of Letters series).

Readings from Lanier should include "The Symphony," "The Marshes of Glynn," "Marsh Song-At Sunset," "Sunrise." The American Men of Letters series includes a good life by Edwin Mims.

NOTE: As in the preceding chapter, recommended readings from the three poets are for convenience limited to selections from the contents of C. H. Page's useful volume, "The Chief American Poets."

CHAPTER VI

AMERICAN FICTION SINCE 1860

The Rise of Realism.—In the foregoing pages three Ameri can masters of fiction have been mentioned who wrote for wider audiences and did what will probably be a more lasting work than any three to be mentioned in this chapter. These men, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, were all writers of romance who laid down their pens before the Civil War. With the new generation a new kind of fiction has come into vogue. Neither in choice of subject-matter nor in method of narration could this earlier trio be confused or identified with the leading story-tellers of the present day. It is perhaps more easy to feel this distinction than to define it; it is the difference between romance and realism. The former term has been expounded at length in connection with the great English poets and novelists of the opening nineteenth century; the latter is that kind of fiction which "does not shrink from the commonplace (although art dreads the commonplace) or from the unpleasant (although the aim of art is to give pleasure) in its effort to depict things as they are, life as it is." If this be a fair definition, it follows that the essential feature of realism is not so much the subject-matter as the way in which the subject-matter is presented; and that the most complete realist is he who has become most intimately familiar with a limited section of society.

Howells's Chosen Field.-William Dean Howells (1837-) is doubtless the man who would be most generally selected as the leader of the realistic school, both in workmanship and in resultant popularity. As in the case of Dickens, his experience in journalism, even before he had become of age, trained him as an observer and critic. Several years in the con

sular service in Italy were followed by his appointment te the assistant editorship of the Atlantic Monthly. Since then his life has been wholly spent in two strongholds of Eastern conservatism-Boston and New York. It is a natural result that his stories develop the point of view of the fortunate and cultured members of metropolitan society. In many of his books he is content to indulge in a pleasantly realistic portrayal of these people. In this special field the life that he deals with is a life of infinitely minute distinctions: the man who departs from the norm even a fraction of a degree becomes interesting under the microscopic lens of his keen observation.

Thus, in the opening

Howells's Command of Detail. pages of Silas Lapham, the attention is called to a whole catalogue of social peccadilloes. As Bartley Hubbard enters the paint-manufacturer's office, Silas, without rising, gives him "his left hand for welcome," seals a letter and pounds it "with his great heavy fist," pushes the door to with a huge foot, and intersperses his conversation with little touches which show not actual vulgarity, but simply a lack of complete refinement in speech and manners. By innumerable little touches Silas Lapham is set apart from the group of Bostonians among whom he is trying to rise. Only in the hands of the most skilful could such a character be made interesting; but in Mr. Howells's hands the triumph is achieved.

As

Howells's Theory as to Plot.—It is not, however, only in the raw material of his craft that such a realist limits himself. he constructs his novels, he writes in the belief that life cannot be separated into a series of stories which are wholly isolated from the events which precede and follow them. The writer of romance, starting from the traditional "once upon a time," lures the attention from point to point until he concludes with a wholly satisfactory "and so they lived happily ever after." To the realist this is much more pleasant than lifelike. Mr. Howells gives the impression sometimes of having told as much as he chose, and sometimes implies that a sequel to the story just completed might be more interesting than what he has related so far. Thus, on the concluding