80 



Beport on General Literature, 



In poetry, we have of course been offered the annual 

 contributions from Tennyson, Lowell, Swinburne and a few 

 others ; each volume being received with the customary 

 amount of fair or unfair criticisms, pronounced superior 

 or inferior to other works of the same author, as the humor 

 of the critic for the moment inclined, and as is usually 

 the case in poetry, the reputation of the authors themselves 

 being referred, in the end, to the verdict of the next genera- 

 tion, in order to determine, by the test of time, their proper 

 claims for immortality. Far exceeding the interest which 

 any of these contributions have called forth, however, is 

 that excited by the third and last portion of Morris's Earthly 

 Paradise, itself a thick closely printed volume, and there- 

 fore, in connection with the parts which have gone before, 

 forming a somewhat startling mass of poetry ; but warmly 

 welcomed by the verdict of many critics, who, having de- 

 voured those previous installments, have now eagerly given 

 their attention to this conclusion, and have thus bestowed 

 upon the whole work the unquestioned stamp of approval. 

 The volumes are mostly a metrical elaboration of classical 

 medieval legend, have been compared in scope and de- 

 sign to Chaucer, and are generally pronounced worthy to 

 rank with the foremost productions of the present age. 



While treating upon the poetry of the year, mention 

 should not fail to be made of the last literary venture of 

 Bayard Taylor — a beautifully printed translation of Faust. 

 The critics have universally welcomed this production with 

 favor, though their present praise can hardly settle the 

 question of its merit as compared with other attempts of 

 the same kind. It must be reserved for time alone to re- 

 solve this problem. The translation has, doubtless, been 

 made with no expectation of superseding other and former 

 editions, but simply in deference to the almost universal 

 instinct, which commands poets, at some portion of their 

 lives, to abandon originality and give themselves to the 



