LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1871. 



441 



is limited to this present state of things, and 

 his immortality consists in the fact that his 

 existence is bound up with that of humanity, 

 which cannot die. The doctrine, it will be 

 observed, is a modification of the pantheistic 

 system of the German and English philoso- 

 phers. After 1843 M. Leroux busied himself 

 with the more practical applications of his 

 semi-socialistic philosophy, and in the diffu- 

 sion of his views through the press. He estab- 

 lished, in 1845, a printing establishment at 

 Boussac (department of Creuse), and published 

 numerous essays and treatises, often setting up 

 the type for them himself. He also founded and 

 edited the Social Review, in which he expound- 

 ed his humanitarian views, and replied to the at- 

 tacks of Proudhon, who, in his Voix duPeuple, 

 had proved himself the most implacable enemy 

 of his doctrines. After the Revolution of 1848, 

 he was elected to the Constituent, and in 1849 

 to the National Assembly, and took an active 

 part iu bringing forward many social and po- 

 litico-economical reforms, some of them very 

 important in the interest of morals, and much 

 needed; but his speeches dealt too much with 

 abstract principles, to be very effective with 

 the politicians of that day. The coup d'etat 

 of December, 1851, removed him from public 

 life, and he took refuge in the Isle of Jersey, 

 with his family, and thenceforth devoted him- 

 self exclusively to literary pursuits. After 

 the amnesty of 1859, he removed to Lausanne, 

 Switzerland, and there held conferences on 

 religion and philosophy. After Sedan, he re- 

 turned to Paris, and died there amid the con- 

 fusion and anarchy of the sway of the Com- 

 mune, with which, however, he did not fully 

 sympathize. The Commune sent two of its 

 members to attend his funeral. M. Leroux 

 was a somewhat voluminous writer, and his 

 style was remarkable for its clearness, preci- 

 sion, and beauty. Most of his works were on 

 subjects connected with social or politico- 

 economical questions; but in two instances he 

 had departed from his usual field. In 1864 he 

 published a philosophic poem, entitled "La, 

 G-reve de Samarez; " and in 1865, " Job, a Dra- 

 ma in Five Acts, by the Prophet Isaiah," trans- 

 lated from the Hebrew, in which he broached a 

 singular theory in regard to the structure and 

 authorship of the book of Job. 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROG- 

 RESS IN 1871. The literary product of Amer- 

 ica during the year was not of large amount. 

 The book-trade has been marked by languor, 

 with exceptional successes, and in this respect 

 may be said to represent not unfairly the rate 

 of literary achievement. A few works have 

 appeared worthy of a place with our best lit- 

 erature, and a few have made a marked sensa- 

 tion, to be noted as phenomena, the exact sig- 

 nificance of which remains for future deter- 

 mination, while there has been less than the 

 usual amount of mere book-making. We are 

 far from thinking this an unfavorable state of 

 things on the whole, or inauspicious for the 



future, however slight may be the apparent 

 grounds of congratulation. 



POETRY. The present is supposed to be by 

 no means a poetic era, but some of the best 

 and most durable work in our realm of letters 

 the past year has been done in verse, as well 

 as some most noteworthy for the sensation it 

 made. The completion of Mr. Bayard Tay- 

 lor's " Faust " has given him the first place 

 among the expositors in English of that poem. 

 His translation of the second part was a more 

 crucial test of his qualifications for the under- 

 taking than the first part, and has been suc- 

 cessfully met. This verdict is rendered in Ger- 

 many, and is confirmed by some of the best 

 English criticism. Our Nestor in poetry per- 

 haps we may now fitly call him our Homer 

 has published a portion of his version of the 

 " Odyssey," fulfilling the high expectation that 

 had been awakened by his success in translat- 

 ing the "Iliad." It must be regarded as no slight 

 distinction of American literature to have 

 among its trophies translations of Homer, of 

 Dante, and of Goethe, that are unsurpassed by 

 any of their predecessors, and in important 

 respects unequalled. 



Mr. Longfellow's " Divine Tragedy " has met 

 with a curiously equivocal reception from* the 

 public. On the one hand, it has been the ob- 

 ject of high praise by critics whose praise is 

 an honor, who pronounce it one of the author's 

 most admirable productions. Critics, possibly 

 as competent, on the other hand, see in it a 

 failure, partially redeemed by some beauties in 

 the details of the execution. It must be con- 

 fessed that, so far -as the external character- 

 istics of the poem are concerned in respect 

 to style and the adaptation of style to subject 

 it is worthy of all praise. The difficulties 

 of the work have been admirably overcome. 

 Its defects are such as will be rather felt than 

 seen. The statement that has been published, 

 that this poem is one of a trilogy, is not, we 

 believe, traced to any announcement of the 

 author ; it would scarcely occur to any mind 

 without prompting. 



Mr. Richard Henry Stoddard has come be- 

 fore the public with a volume entitled " The 

 Book of the East, and Other Poems." The lead- 

 ing title is suggested by the fact that the volume 

 contains some choice pieces translated from the 

 Persian and other Oriental literatures. They are 

 delicious in their kind. But we hazard little in 

 expressing the belief that the " other poems " 

 will do more for him in the estimation of his 

 readers, now and hereafter for to his poetry we 

 trust there is an hereafter. These later poems 

 have greater intellectual energy, a more thought- 

 ful spirit, a profounder depth of feeling, and 

 a quality of expression more completely repre- 

 sentative of the thought and feeling and per- 

 sonality of the author, than are shown in his 

 previous works. "My Witness," by William 

 Winter, is the title of a volume by a younger 

 poet, but not chargeable with marks of imma- 

 turity. The poems are on a striking variety 



