Music — Poetry — Fiction 



The first Niagara verse of which we have any record appeared 

 in the dedicatory sonnet of Champlain's " Des Sauvages," 1 604, 

 and the amount has steadily increased until the present day, 

 probably the most prolific period being in the first half of the nine- 

 teenth century. Naturally American poets predominate in the 

 list, but the greatest of our Americans are conspicuous by their 

 absence. Mrs. Sigourney is probably the best known of the 

 American verse-writers, but the poems of several obscure Ameri- 

 can poets are much more pleasing to modern critical taste. As 

 might be expected there are several collections of Niagara poetry, 

 the best of these being contained in Longfellow's Poems of 

 Places, where under the Niagara heading may be found the 

 choicest of this verse. 



Music 



The sound of Niagara has been such a fruitful subject of 

 discussion that it is surprising that more musical literature on 

 the subject does not exist. The Niagara composition of Ole Bull 

 provoked some writing on the subject, but very little of it was 

 in the form of permanent literature. In 1881 Eugene Thayer 

 investigated the music and tone of the Falls and the articles which 

 he wrote on this subject, together with the varying opinions called 

 forth by these articles, comprise the only other literature on the 

 subject which research has revealed. However, many of the 

 writers of general descriptions have recorded their observations 

 and views concerning the sound and music of the Falls. 



Fiction 



It was the fashion with a type of fiction writers about the 

 time of the War of 1812 and an even earlier period to use the 

 region of Niagara as a background for their stories. These, with 

 the Indian myths and legends, and the adventurous travels which 

 belong rather to the realm of romance than fact, comprise the 

 greater part of the early fiction connected with Niagara. In later 

 years the region appears but seldom in fiction but modern 



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