BARTRAM'S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE 181 



do not suggest Bartram material. The " Song of the Chikkasah 

 Widow " and " The Old Chikkasah to his Grandson " promise 

 only slightly more. Yet these Songs deserve attention. What 

 may have happened can best be illustrated by reference to an- 

 other poem of Southey's, " The King of the Crocodiles." In his 

 notes on that poem he refers to a superstition existing among 

 the Egyptians concerning crocodiles, which he had read in 

 "Brown's Travels"; in defence of an incident in the poem, 

 "' the woman's attack upon her intended devourer," he refers to 

 "Mr. Waterton's Wanderings."" The two books evidently 

 supplied material which fused in one and the same poem. The 

 notes to " A Tale of Paraguay," a lengthy poem, illustrate even 

 more strongly the multiplicity of sources upon which Southey 

 drew. That some images and suggestions which had come out 

 of the books had become so thoroughly assimilated as to seem 

 spontaneous and original with him and therefore to need no 

 notes is also a probability to be considered. 



William Lisle Bowles: 



This poet, who left his mark on the work of Coleridge,^^ and 

 who in 1855 was called by the Rev. George Gilfillan " the father 

 of modern poetry," ^^ acknowledged his indebtedness to Bar- 

 tram in at least one place. In " Banwell Hill " he writes: 



Not sweeter, where thy mighty waters weep, 

 Missouri, through the night of forests deep, 

 Resounds, from glade to glade, from rock to hill, 

 While fervent harmonies the wild wood fill, 

 The solitary note of whip-poor-will (115-119). 



In a footnote to these lines he adds: 



The "" whip-poor-will " is a bird so called in America, from his 

 uttering those distinct sounds, at intervals, among the various wild 

 harmonies of the forest. See Bartram's Travels in America." 



'■'' Poetical Works, VI, 96. 



^^ See the latter's sonnet, '" To William Lisle Bowles." 



"T^f Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles. Edinburgh, 1855, II, v. 



^' Ibid. II 47. Cf. " The groves resound the unceasing cries of the whip- 

 poor-will " {Travels, p. 51) and "The shades of silent night are made more 

 cheerful, with the shrill voice of the whip-poor-will " (p. 154). 



