Page 88 - Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor

called "A Fable for Critics." It was written in double rhymes, for the most
part, which are very hard to make, and not altogether easy to read; but they

help the humorous impression.

This poem was published anonymously, and in it the author hits off all the
prominent authors of the day, speaking as the god Apollo. Of course he did
not attach his name to it, and as it appeared anonymously he felt that he

could say what he liked--in other words, tell the truth about his friends and
acquaintances, or at least give his opinion of them. Incidentally, he pokes

fun at the literary fads of the day.

Among other things, to give the impression that he was not the author of

the poem, he puts in a free criticism of himself:

There is Lowell, who's striving Parnassus to climb With a whole bale of
isms tied together with rhyme. He might get on alone, spite of brambles and
boulders, But he can't with that bundle he has on his shoulders. The top of

the hill he will never come nigh reaching Till he learns the distinction 'twixt
singing and preaching; His lyre has some chords that would ring pretty

well, But he'd rather by half make a drum of the shell, And rattle away till
he's old as Mathusalem, At the head of a march to the last new Jerusalem.

Evidently he thought that he paid too much attention to politics, as in the
"Biglow Papers," and to lecturing, and various side issues, when he ought

to be cultivating pure poetry more assiduously; or rather, he would have
liked to be a simple poet and do nothing else, not even earn a living.

The way he characterizes in this poem the great writers whom we know is
both amusing and interesting, and he generally tells the truth. For instance,

he writes--

There comes Poe, with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge, Three fifths of him

genius and two fifths sheer fudge.

The best of his criticisms are not satirical, but true and appreciative. Thus,
Hawthorne: