Tiffany Vergon, Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team
_Professor of Modern Languages in Roanoke College
Author of "A History of Education" "History of English Literature,"
"Introduction to American Literature" etc._
The poets of the South, who constitute a worthy galaxy of poetic talentand achievement, are not sufficiently known. Even in the South, whichmight naturally be expected to take pride in its gifted singers, most ofthem, it is to be feared, are but little read.
This has been called an age of prose. Under the sway of what are regardedas "practical interests," there is a drifting away from poetic sentimentand poetic truth. This tendency is to be regretted, for materialprosperity is never at its best without the grace and refinements of trueculture. At the present time, as in former ages, the gifted poet is aseer, who reveals to us what is highest and best in life.
There is at present a new interest in literature in the South. The peopleread more; and in recent years an encouraging number of Southern writershave achieved national distinction. With this literary renaissance, therehas been a turning back to older authors.
It is hoped that this little volume will supply a real need. It isintended to call fresh attention to the poetic achievement of the South.While minor poets are not forgotten, among whose writings is found many agem of poetry, it is the leaders of the chorus—Poe, Hayne, Timrod,Lanier, and Ryan—who receive chief consideration. It may be doubtedwhether several of them have been given the place in American letters towhich their gifts and achievements justly entitle them. It is hoped thatthe following biographical and critical sketches of these men, eachhighly gifted in his own way, will lead to a more careful reading oftheir works, in which, be it said to their honor, there is no thought orsentiment unworthy of a refined and chivalrous nature.
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The first poetic writer of this country had his home at Jamestown. He wasGEORGE SANDYS who came to Virginia in 1621, and succeeded his brother astreasurer of the newly established colony. Amid the hardships of pioneercolonial life, in which he proved himself a leading spirit, he had theliterary zeal to complete his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses,which he had begun in England. After the toilsome day, spent inintroducing iron works or in encouraging shipbuilding, he sat down atnight, within the shadow of surrounding forests, to construct hiscareful, rhymed pentameters. The conditions under which he wrote werevery far removed from the Golden Age which he described,—...