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Wore scarce so thin, so slight; but the fair star 



That gems the glittering coronet of morn. 



Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, 



As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, 



Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, 



Yet with an undulating motion, 



Swayed to her outline gracefully. 



And yet I have the feeling that, in the last analysis, Poe 

 denied too much to The Culprit Fay. It was Poe's way to 

 emphasize the negative in all his criticisms. It is true that the 

 unevenness and inconsistency of youthful workmanship are 

 there. Technically the work does need pruning, and it does 

 lack proportion; and Drake did not revise; he improvised. 

 And there had heen too high praise. But Drake was only 

 twenty-one when he wrote the poem. He was the first of our 

 American poets to seek to find the Way of Glamour; and he 

 journeyed on his pathway alone. The wonder is that such a 

 poem should have been written in America at all in 1816. 

 Such lightness and airiness of touch, such musical verse were 

 well nigh unique in our earlier poetry; they are rare in our 

 later. As I read the poem today the music of its verse and the 

 daintiness of its story seem to me to blend in a charm that 

 brings a sweet and genuine, if not a powerful appeal of poetic 

 reality across the century to this day of our commemoration. 



At this point of the memorial exercises Drake's poem The 

 American Flag was sung to stirring music composed for the 

 occasion 1 by Edwin S. Tracy, musical director of the Morris 

 High School; one hundred pupils of the school participating 

 in the mixed chorus were accompanied by the Morris High 

 School orchestra of several dozen instruments. The audience 

 greeted this number by rising and giving the composer an 

 ovation. 



Charles de Kay, Esq., the well-known author, poet, and 

 critic, as well as grandson of Drake, then presented a valuable 

 paper on the lineage of our poet, which follows: 



1 The music with piano accompaniment has been published by Mr. 

 Tracy, who also provided full score orchestration for his pupils in manu- 

 script. 



