412 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1878. 



abundant harvest The best poems of the 

 sUten Gary are well worthy of preservation. 

 bat they are not of sufficient excellence to bear 

 being loaded down with ninny specimens of 

 their inferior workmanship. " Lars, a Pas- 

 toral of Norway," by Bayard Taylor, is a 

 poem marked by felicity of invention, fidel- 

 ity of local coloring, and a tone of genuine 

 and deep feeling. Of republications and col- 

 lected works, "The Poems of Edmund C. 

 Stodman" is a title which startles us with 

 the unt houjrht-of maturity of poetic standing 

 which is implied in the issue of his " works." 

 It is to bo hoped that this publication is not a 

 hint of a completing of his tasks as a poet. 

 "Poems, by Charles Fenno Hoffman," have 

 pleasant associations for those who remember 

 his early popularity, but they will have little 

 charm, it is to be feared, for a later genera- 

 tion. A considerable number of new aspirants 

 for poetic honors have appeared : 



Poems of Henry Timrod. With Memoirs. E Jitod 

 by Paul H. llayne. 



The Klectra of Sophocles. Translated by J. 6. 

 Brinkle. 



The Stabat Mater, and other Hymns. Translated 

 by John D. Van liurcn. 



Clarence. A Drama. Bv Donton J. Snyder. 



The Temple Rebuilt. A Poem of Christian Faith. 

 By Frederic R. Abbe. 



The Year. A Collection of Poems. By D. C. 

 Colesworthv. 



Poems. By Clare Augusta. 



Queen Loo, and Other Poems. By Gay Kara- 

 more. 



Leisure Moment*. Poems. By II. Helen Nunez. 



The Mouth of Qold : Dramatic Scenes from the 

 Life of Chrysostom. By Edwin Johnson. 



Poems. By WilliumJ. Allinsoo. 

 ' Carmina Pnnotonio. Martin Dennis, F. B. Cotton, 

 J. II. Dulles. Students' Committee. 



Carmina Yalonsia. By J. 0. Ueald and S. T. 

 Dutt'.n. 



The Knightly Heart, and Other Poems. By James 

 Freeman Coleman. 



i >ut of Sweet Solitude. Poems. By Eleanor C. 

 Donelly. 



Faire-Hount. A Poem. By Henry Peterson. 



Honey and Gall. Poems. By Francis S. Saltus. 



Violet Lee, and Other Poems. By Mrs. S. L. 

 Oberholtm r. 



Sounds from Secret Chambers. By Laura C. Red- 

 den (Howard Glyndon). 



A Roman Lawyer in Jerusalem. By W. W. Story. 



The Morninir Star; or. Wayside Musings, and 

 Other I'oems. By Rev. William Newton. 



Bianoa Canello. A Tragedy in Five Acts. By 

 Elizabeth C. Klnney. 



Religious Poems. By the author of " Stepping 

 II (ft it ,- i " 



The Irish on the Prairies, and Other Poems. By 

 Thorns* Ambrose Butler. 



Old-Time Pictures and Sheaves of Khyme. By 

 BcnJ. F. Taylor. 



Asleep in the Sanctum, and Other Poems. l!y 

 Alplionso A. Hopkins. 



flome Scenes. Divine Songs, and Other Poems. 

 B/ the Rev. C. K. Furman. A. M 



v Songs for Little People. By Mrs. Mary E. 



The Harvest-Moon, and Other Poems. By G. N. !- 

 son Brigliam. 



Rosemary Leaven. Poms. By tin. D. M. Jordan. 



The Christmas-Tree, and other Poems. By F. M. 

 Hay. 



The Infant Harper, and Other Poems. By Mary 

 J. Wines. 



The Young Magdalen, and Other Poems. By 

 Francis 8. Smith. 



ESSAYS AXI> CRITICISM.. Mr. Bryant's "Ora- 

 tions and Addresses" have the charm of nn en- 

 gaging style, a fortunate selection of MI! 

 and the interest which the author's personality 

 communicates to all his utterances, wln-tln-r in 

 prose or in verse. We arc at any time glad to 

 hear what he has to say, and when he speaks 

 of men who were hia contemporaries in the 

 culture of letters and of art, of Cooper, llal- 

 leck, Cole the painter, Gulian C. Verplunck, 

 and of matters that concern the higher inter- 

 ests of society, the author and the subjects aro 

 appropriate to each other. Colonel T. W. Ilig- 

 ginson, whoso happily illustrates the "culture" 

 for which he pleads, in his volnme of essays en- 

 titled "Oldport Days," has proved himself a 

 master in different styles of composition the 

 essay, the tale, and (by his translations from 

 Petrarch) "the accomplishment of verse" 

 verse steeped in poetic sensibility, if not in- 

 stinct with poetic genius. ' Tin- lii-inn Faith," 

 by the Rev. C. A. Hartol, D.I)., exhibits an 

 Emersonian brilliancy of style, nn unexpected- 

 ness of thought, the courage to say startling 

 things without qualifying or excusing them, 

 that keep the reader alert. His opinion* are 

 what are called "advanced," and his uncom- 

 promising utterance would not seem, at first 

 view, the best method of commending them 

 to favor. But boldness is sometimes the best 

 policy. " Among the Isles of Shoals," by Ce- 

 lia Thaxter, is a volume that makes the reader 

 not only see, but almost to feel the scenes de- 

 scribed. It is a production that only a long fa- 

 miliarity with the islands could have inspired. 

 The lady who writes under the pseudonym 

 of "Gail Hamilton," wields a trenchant pen. 

 " Twelve Miles from a Lemon," Sydney Smith's 

 humorous description of the remoteness of his 

 Yorkshire parsonage, is adopted by her as the 

 title to a collection of essays on "country liv- 

 ing," woman's rights and duties, and various 

 other matters and things, on all of which she 

 discourses with a degree of wit, shrewdness, 

 sound common-sense, knowledge of and sym- 

 pathy with human nature, not often so richly 

 combined. She is sometimes amusingly and 

 unwarrantably dogmatic, too often irreverent, 

 but never dull. " South-Sea Idyls" by Charles 

 Warren Stoddard, are too volatile, aimle<-. pur- 

 poseless, to serve " for profit or delight." Tho 

 anthor has attractive qualities, hut his book 

 disappoints. ' Woman in American Society," 

 by Abby Goold Woolson, treats a hackneyed 

 subject with much freshness of thought and 

 excellent sense. Under the title "The Liberal 

 Education of Women ; the Demand and the 

 Method," Prof. James Orton, of Vnssar Col- 

 lege, has collected a series of papers by English 

 and American writers, discussing the subject 

 from different and opposite points of view. 

 Some of these discussions are of marked abil- 



