his stories, in two volumes, entitled "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque." He showed great originality in the plots and incidents of these tales. The horrible, in one form or another, is a strong element in most of them. He had the greatest ingenuity in devising incidents and situations. He showed great power of description and of swiftly moving narration. There is very little portrayal or development of character. As in the poems, it is Poe himself who, under various names and in various disguises, appears in all the stories; or else the characters are subordinated to the incidents. Among the most powerful of the tales are "The Fall of the House. of Usher," "The Black Cat," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "William Wilson," "The Gold Bug." Poe's ideas and plots, in these stories, have been freely imitated. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" set the fashion for detective stories which has been followed by a number of clever writers since. "The Gold Bug" did the same for the use of the "cryptogram" in fiction. It would not be easy to count the stories which have borrowed suggestions of one sort or another from Poe. "William Wilson" is to some extent autobiographic, describing the school in England where Poe spent some years; and perhaps its leading idea, of a man tormented and driven wild by his double, suggests the strangely double character of the author. The thought is not entirely dissimilar from that of Stevenson's " Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Poe's tales are essentially romantic. He never attempts to reproduce character, or manners, or life, in their ordinary or commonplace manifestations. It is always the terrible, the grotesque, or the extraordinary, which gives interest to his plots. His style shows a remarkable power of adapting words to the prevailing tone of the composition. In the opening passage of "The Fall of the House of Usher," for example, the day is described as "dull, dark, and soundless," the building has "bleak walls," "vacant eye-like windows," the lake in front of the house is called "a black and lurid tarn." In this way the tone of gloom and terror is given to the beginning, which is maintained with increasing force till the end, when "The deep and dark tarn at my feet closed suddenly and silently over the fragments of the house of Usher." There is nothing preternatural in this story. Every circumstance may be accounted for. The premature burial is due to catalepsy; and the final destruction of the house to a tornado. But by the skilful management of incident and the powerful descriptions, all the horrible effect of a ghost story is secured, without the often attendant absurdity. For skill in the effective grouping of incidents, for power in description, for the masterful use of words to suggest pictures and secure the condition of mind in the reader which will make him susceptible to the impression desired by the writer, Poe is, probably, the best example in our Literature. His failure is in lack of reserve. He sometimes presses the point too hard. We refuse to believe in such a combination of elements of gloom and horror as he employs in most of his stories. Ethical teaching and humor are almost entirely absent from his work. Ware, born in Massachu Continuing the study of the prose fiction of this period I note next, the name of William Ware, a Uni- William tarian clergyman who wrote some historical romances of considerable popularity in their time. "Zenobia," setts, 1797; "Aurelian," and "Julian" are the names of three of his best books. died, 1852. Gilmore Simms, born in South William Gilmore Simms was also a writer of ro- William mances. His works are of value as illustrating the earlier history of the United States, especially in the Carolinas; and to a certain extent the life and manners of the people of those states. He was a very voluminous writer, publishing a good deal of verse, as well as editorial and historical work, and a long series of works of fiction. "The Yemassee," published in 1835, is thought to be his best work. These romances have spirit and vigor of style, but show the defects of the author's lack of thorough literary training. They will always be of interest, however, as illustrations of the life of the time, and as the only important representative, in the Literature of the period, of the part of the country which was the author's home. Simms' publications number forty-four titles. They include poems, novels, histories, biographies, and critical essays. Some of his more important works, with the dates of their publication, are the following: Catharine born in John 1870. For reasons similar to those which give special value to the writings of Simms, a place in the history of American Literature will always be found for the name of Catharine Maria Sedgwick. She did for Massachusetts what Simms did for Carolina; but she did it more in the style of the novel than of the romance. Perhaps the difference is due somewhat to the nature of the material offered by New England life. But certainly Miss Sedgwick has more of the manner of "realism" than has the Southern author. Her first novels were published anonymously. "Redwood," which appeared in 1824, was reprinted in England, and translated into four European languages. It is said that this book was ascribed to Cooper by some European critics. "The Linwoods, or Sixty Years Since in America," is thought by many to be her best work. Among the most accomplished of the many brilliant men who adorned American public life during this period, was John Pendleton Kennedy. He was 1795; died, prominent in political life, in Congress, and in the diplomatic service. He published writings on political subjects, in biography, and in history. His connection with Poe has been referred to already. He was an intimate friend of the great English novelist, Thackeray; and one of the curiosities of Literature is the fact that a chapter of "The Virginians" was written by Kennedy. It would be an interesting exercise to try to discover, from indications in the material and style, which chapter of Thackeray's novel was written by the Ameri can. Kennedy's books might be called "romantic novels," as combining the two types of fiction. They illustrate the life and manners of Virginia and Maryland; but they go back to the Revolutionary and colonial times for their subjects; and in "Rob of the Bowl," for instance, the somewhat stately life of the lords proprietary, with the pirate smugglers of the time, give the book an Old World flavor of This book, published in 1838, "HorseShoe Robinson," 1835, and "Swallow Barn," 1832, are Kennedy's principal works of fiction. romance. James Kirke Paulding is always associated in our minds with Washington Irving, his intimate friend and literary partner in the "Salmagundi" papers. But he merits a paragraph on his own account. He was a journalist and politician, being Secretary of the Navy in Van Buren's administration; but his chief interest was Literature. After the "Salmagundi' papers his first publication was "The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan," which was very successful. He published other satires, a "Life of Washington," some extended poems, which appear to have been quite forgotten, — and a number of novels. The names of some of them are as follows: "Koningsmarke, the Long Finne," 1823; "The Dutchman's Fireside," 1831; "Westward Ho," 1832; "The Old Continental," 1846; "The Puritan and his Daughter," 1849. Of these probably the best is "The Dutchman's Fireside." It is a story of colonial times in New York, full of bright humor and quaint characterization. James Kirke born in New Paulding, York, 1779; died, 1860. |