POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA. Introduction. FROM THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS TO THE REVOLUTION, (2) xiii HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. THE earliest specimens of poetry which I have presented in the body of this work are from the writings of PHILIP FRENEAU, one of those worthies who with both lyre and sword aided in the achievement of the independence of the United States. Before his time but little poetry was written in this country, although from the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth there was at no period a lack of candidates for the poetic laurel. Many of the early colonists were men of erudition, deeply versed in scholastic theology, and familiar with the best ancient literature; but they possessed neither the taste, the fancy, nor the feeling of the poet, and their elaborate metrical compositions are forgotten by all save the antiquary, and by him are regarded as among the least valuable of the relics of the first era of civilization in America. It is unreasonable to compare the quaint and grotesque absurdities of FOLGER, MATHER, and WIGGLESWORTH with the productions of the first cultivators of the art in older nations; for literature-mental development-had here, in truth, no infancy. The great works of CHAUCER, SPENSER, SHAKSPEARE, and MILTON were as accessible in their time as now, and the living harmonies of DRYDEN and POPE were borne on every breeze that then fanned the cheek of an Englishman. The bar to progress was that spirit of bigotry—at length broken down by the stronger spirit of freedomwhich prevented the cultivation of elegant learning, and regarded as the fruits of profane desire the poet's glowing utterance, strong feeling, delicate fancy, and brilliant imagination. Our fathers were like the labourers of an architect; they planted deep and strong in religious virtue and useful science the foundations of an edifice, not dreaming how great and magnificent it was to be. They did well their part; it was not meet for them to fashion the capitals and adorn the arches of the temple. The first poem composed in this country was a description of New England, in Latin, by the Reverend WILLIAM MORRELL, who came to Plymouth Colony in 1623, and returned to London in the following year. It has been reprinted, with an English translation made by the author, in the collections of the Massa chusetts Historical Society. The first verses by a colonist were written about the year 1630. The name of the author has been lost: New England's annoyances, you that would know them, But when the spring opens, we then take the hoe, Now while some are going let others be coming, The first book published in British America was "The Psalms in Metre, faithfully Translated, for the Use, Edification, and Comfort of the Saints, in Public and Private, especially in New England," printed at Cambridge, in 1640. The version was made by THOMAS WELDE, of Roxbury, RICHARD MATHER, of Dorchester, and JOHN ELIOT, the famous apostle to the Indians. The translators seem to have been aware that it possessed but little poetical merit. "If," say they, in their preface, the verses are not always so smooth and elegant as some may desire and expect, let them consider that GoD's altar needs not our polishings; for we have respected rather a plain translation, than to smooth our verses with the sweetness of any paraphrase, and so have attended to conscience rather than elegance, and fidelity rather than poetry, in translating Hebrew words into English language, and DAVID's poetry into English metre." COTTON MATHER laments the inelegance of the version, but declares that the Hebrew was most exactly rendered. After a second edition had been printed, President DUNSTER,* of Harvard College, assisted by Mr. RICHARD LYON, a tutor at Cambridge, attempted to improve it, and in their advertisement to the godly reader they state that they "had special eye both to the gravity of the phrase of sacred writ and sweetness of the verse." DUNSTER'S edition was reprinted twenty-three times in America, and several times in Scotland and England, where it was long used in the dissenting congregations. The following specimen is from the second edition: PSALM CXXXVII. The rivers on of Babilon, There when wee did sit downe, Our harp wee did hang it amid, Upon the willow tree, Because there they that us away Led in captivitee Requir'd of us a song, and thus Askt mirth us waste who laid, The LORD's Song sing can wee, being Let cleave my tongue my pallate on If chiefe joyes o're I prize not more Remember, LORD, Edom's sons' word, It rase, it rase, when as it was Blest shall he be that payeth thee, Daughter of Babilon, Who must be waste, that which thou hast O happie hee shall surely bee That taketh up, that eke Thy little ones against the stones Mrs. ANNE BRADSTREET, "the mirror of her THOMAS DUNSTER was the first president of Harvard College, and was inaugurated on the twenty-seventh of age, and glory of her sex," as she is styled by JOHN NORTON, of excellent memory, came to America with her husband, SIMON BRADSTREET, governor of the colony, in 1630, when she was but sixteen years of age. She was a daughter of Governor DUDLEY, a miserly, though a "valorous and discreet gentleman," for whom Governor BELCHER wrote the following epitaph: "Here lies THOMAS DUDLEY, that trusty old stud— A bargain's a bargain, and must be made good." Mrs. BRADSTREET's verses were printed at Cambridge, in 1640. The volume was entitled, "Several Poems, compiled with great variety of wit and learning, full of delight; wherein especially is contained a compleat discourse and description of the four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, and Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome of the Three First Monarchies, viz: the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian; and Roman Commonwealth, from the beginning, to the end of the last King; with divers other Pleasant and Serious Poems." NORTON declares her poetry so fine that, were MARO to hear it, he would condemn his own works to the fire; and in a poetical description of her character says Her breast was a brave pallace, a broad street, The author of the "Magnalia" speaks of her poems as a "monument for her memory beyond the stateliest marble;" and JoHN ROGERS, one of the presidents of Harvard College, in some verses addressed to her, says Your only hand those poesies did compose: Your head the source, whence all those springs did flow: She died in September, 1672, and "was greatly mourned." The following stanzas are August, 1640. In 1654 he became unpopular on account of his public advocacy of anti-pædobaptism, and was com pelled to resign. When he died, in 1659, he bequeathed legacies to the persons who were most active in causing his separation from the college. In the life of DUNSTER, in the Magnalia, is the following admonition, by a Mr. SHEPHERD, to the authors of the New Psalm Book: You Rorb'ry poets keep clear of the crime of missing to give to us very good rhyme. And you of Dorchester, your verses lengthen, But with the texts' own words you will them strengthen. from one of her minor pieces, entitled "Con- Under the cooling shadow of a stately elm Where gliding streams the rocks did overwhelm ; And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell. While on the stealing stream I fixt mine eye, Nor is it rocks or shoals that can obstruct thy pace. So may we press to that vast mansion, ever blest. Ye fish, which in this liquid region 'bide, In lakes and ponds, you leave your numerous fry, To see what trade the great ones the do drive, en field, While musing thus with contemplation fed, And wisht me wings with her a while to take my flight. O merry bird (said I) that fears no snares, To gain more good, or shun what might thee harm; Reminds not what is past, nor what's to come dost fear. The dawning morn with songs thou dost prevent,* And thus they pass their youth in summer season, Where winter's never felt by that sweet airy legion. Man's at the best a creature frail and vain, And yet this sinfull creature, frail and vain, Anticipate. [lation. In weight, in frequency, and long duration, The mariner that on smooth waves doth glide, So he that saileth in this world of pleasure, Fond fool, he takes this earth ev'n for heaven's bower. O Time, the fatal wrack of mortal things, Their names without a record are forgot, Their parts, their ports, their pomp's all laid in th' dust; WILLIAM BRADFORD, the second governor When JOHN COTTON, a minister of Boston, A living, breathing Bible; tables where O what a monument of glorious worth, The lines of the Reverend Joseph CAPEN, Thy body which no activeness did lack, 'T will have at length a far more active state : A fair edition, and of matchless worth, b |