He overemphasized the romantic elements of
strangeness, sadness, and horror. He was deficient in humor and sentiment,
and his guiding standards of criticism often seem too coldly intellectual.
Those critics who test him exclusively by the old Puritan standards
invariably find him wanting, for the Puritans had no room in their world
for the merely beautiful.
Poe's genius, however, was sufficiently remarkable to triumph over these
defects, which would have consigned to oblivion other writers of less
power. In spite of the most determined hostile criticism that an American
author has ever known, the editions of Poe's works continue to increase.
The circle of those who fall under his hypnotic charm, in which there is
nothing base or unclean, is enlarged with the passing of the years. As a
great literary craftsman, he continues to teach others. He is now not
likely to be dislodged from that peculiar, narrow field where he holds a
unique and original position among the great writers of the world.
WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, 1806-1870
William Gilmore Simms, often styled the "Cooper of the South," was born of
poor parents in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1806.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389