Accepted Literary Criticism
(This page is under construction. The list of items is still being determined.)
The Southern Literary Messenger
The Southern Literary Messenger (Richmond) was founded in 1834 by
Thomas Willis White (1788-1843). In 1835, Poe began first to contribute
then ultimately to edit the magazine. During Poe's period as editor, the
subcription rate went from 500 to 3,500. Its last issue appeared in 1864.
-
Title: "[Review of R. M. Bird's Calavar]," (SLM, Feb.
1835)
Status: Accepted, with reservations
Argument: This review is attributed to Poe by Killis Campbell
(Campbell, "News for Bibliophiles," The Nation, Oct. 19, 1911, p.
362). This review is not included in Harrison's edition of Poe's works
(1902). See the notice for the later review of Bird's The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow
below. On June 7, 1836 , Poe wrote to R. M. Bird soliciting material for
the SLM: "...to obtain something from the author of 'Calavar'" (Ostrom,
Letters, p. 93).
-
Title: "[Review of L. Osborn's Confessions of a Poet]," (SLM,
April 1835)
Status: Accepted, absolutely
Argument: Poe's authorship of this review is certain, although
he effectively tried to deny it in a letter to Osborn written on August
15, 1845: "Your 'Confessions of a Poet" I read many years ago, with very
profound sentiment of admiration for its author, and sympathy with what
I supposed his real rather than his fictitious experiences. . . . In one
or two instances I have written warmly in its defense. . . ." (Ostrom,
Letters, p. 294). A prior letter to T. W. White secures Poe as the
author of the review: "I read the article in the Compiler relating to the
'Confessions of a Poet' but there is no necessity of giving it a reply.
The book is silly enough of itself. . . . The writer 'I' founds his opinion
that I have not read the book simply upon one fact -- that I disagree with
him concerning it" (Poe to T. W. White, May 30, 1835, Ostrom, Letters,
p. 60).
-
Title: "[Review of J. P. Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson],"
(SLM, May 1835)
Status: Accepted
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of R. M. Bird's The Infidel, or the Fall of Mexico],"
(SLM, June 1835. Harrison, VIII, 32-37)
Status: Accepted, with reservations
Argument: Mabbott's letter of 1966 says not by Poe, J. Lasley
Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies,
pp. 57.) (Mabbott's reason is "More than 3 cols.") Mabbott's 1978 edition
of Poe's Tales and Sketches, completed after Mabbott's death in 1969, notes
the review as by Poe, suggesting that Mabbott revised his opinion (Mabbott,
Tales and Sketches, p. 288). W. D. Hull attributes to Poe, as does
Killis Campbell. See the notice for the later review of Bird's The Hawks
of Hawk-Hollow below. On June 7, 1836, Poe wrote to R. M. Bird soliciting
material for the SLM: "I will trust to the chivalric spirit of him who
wrote the 'Infidel' for a reply" (Ostrom, Letters, p. 93).
-
Title: "[Review of R. M. Bird's The Hawks of Hawk-Hollow],"
(SLM, Dec. 1835. Harrison, VIII, 63-73)
Status: Accepted, with reservations
Argument: This review refers back to the earlier reviews of
Calavar (SLM, Feb. 1835) and The Infidel (SLM, June 1835),
suggesting the same reviewer. The Poe Log accepts the Hawks Hollow
review as by Poe. Since it seems that all three should be accepted or rejected
as a trio I am inclined to accept. Mabbott's June 9, 1966 letter of items
collected in Harrison's edition of Poe's complete works (1902) but not,
in his opinion, written by Poe does not mention this review. (J. Lasley
Dameron, "Thomas Ollive Mabbott on the Canon of Poe's Reviews, Poe Studies,
pp. 57.) Mabbott's 1978 edition of Poe's Tales and Sketches, completed
after Mabbott's death in 1969, notes all three reviews as by Poe (Mabbott,
Tales and Sketches, p. 288). Dr. Burton R. Pollin claims that, in
his final few days, Mabbott personally reiterated his belief that
the reviews are not by Poe.
-
Title: "[Review of Glass's Washingtonii Vita]," (SLM,
Dec. 1835)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Fay's Norman Leslie]," (SLM, Dec.
1835)
Status: Accepted, positively
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Miss Sedgwick's The Linwoods]," (SLM,
Dec. 1835)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Irving's Crayon Miscellany]," (SLM,
Dec. 1835)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Godwin's Necromancy]," (SLM, Dec.
1835)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Mrs. Sigourney -- Miss Gould -- Mrs. Ellet],"
(SLM, Jan. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of W. G. Simm's The Partisan]," (SLM,
Jan. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Ingraham's The South-West]," (SLM,
Jan. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Lieber's Reminiscences of Niebur]," (SLM,
Jan. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe]," (SLM,
Jan. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Palaestine]," (SLM, Feb. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Mattson's Paul Uric]," (SLM, Feb.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Wilmer's Emilia Harrington]," (SLM,
Feb. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Alexander Slidell's The American in England],"
(SLM, Feb. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Chorely's Conti]," (SLM, Feb. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Bulwer's Rienzi]," (SLM, Feb. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Hawk's Episcopal Church in Virginia],"
(SLM, Mar. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Longstreet's Georgia Scenes]," (SLM,
Mar. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Drake-Halleck]," (SLM, April 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Brunnens of Nassau]," (SLM, April.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Slidell's Spain Revisited]," (SLM,
May 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Anthon's Sallust]," (SLM, May 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Paulding's Washington]," (SLM,
May 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Walsh's Didactics]," (SLM, May
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Recollections of Coleridge]," (SLM,
June 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Stone's Ups and Downs]," (SLM,
June 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Watkins Tottle]," (SLM, June 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Southey's The Doctor]," (SLM, July
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Raumer's England]," (SLM, July
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Hall's Book of Gems]," (SLM, Aug.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of South-Sea Expedition]," (SLM, Aug.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of French's Elkswatawa]," (SLM, Aug.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Ingraham's Lafitte]," (SLM, Aug.
1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Willis's Inklings of Adventure]," (SLM,
Aug. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Lydia Maria Child's Philothea]," (SLM,
Sept. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of R. M. Bird's Sheppard Lee]," (SLM,
Sept. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Chorley's Memorials of Mrs. Hemans],"
(SLM, Oct. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Hall's Schloss Hainfeld]," (SLM,
Oct. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of James's Life of Richelieu]," (SLM,
Oct. 1836)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Bryant's Poems]," (SLM, Jan. 1837)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of B. Tucker's George Balcombe]," (SLM,
Jan. 1837)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Washington Irving's Astoria]," (SLM,
Jan. 1837)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Reynold's South Sea Expedition Address],"
(SLM, Jan. 1837)
Status:
Argument:
Burton's Gentleman's Magazine
The Gentleman's Magazine (Philadelphia) was founded in 1837 by William
Evans Burton (1802-1860). The first issue appeared on July of 1837. Poe
became editor in July of 1839, leaving in June 1840 over personal issues.
Burton had already decided to sell the magazine. Although Poe had left
the magazine, some of the items he had provided to Burton continued to
appear through the August 1840 issue.
-
Title: "[Notice of George Pope Morris]," (BGM, May 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of J. F. Cooper's The History of the Navy of
the United States of America]," (BGM, July 1839x)
Status: Accepted
Argument: Not in Harrison. Included by Thompson in the collection
of Poe's essays published by the Library of America.
-
Title: "[Review of G. P. R. James's Memoirs of Celebrated Women],"
(BGM, July 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Thomas Wyatt's A Synopsis of Natural History],"
(BGM, July 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of N. P. Willis's Tortesa, The Usurer],"
(BGM, August 1839)
Status:
Argument: Condensed version of the review from the Pittsburg
Literary Examiner. J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of James's The Gentleman of the Old School],"
(BGM, Aug. 1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Wallace's The Triumphs of Science]," (BGM,
Aug. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Cooper's Precaution]," (BGM, Aug.
1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Fouque's Undine]," (BGM, Sept.
1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Glenn's "Reply to the Critics"]," (BGM,
Sept. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Lord Brougham's Historical Sketches of Statesmen],"
(BGM, Sept. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of J. P. Robertson's Solomon Seesaw]," (BGM,
Sept. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of H. W. Longfellow's Hyperion]," (BGM,
Oct. 1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Murray's Travels in North America]," (BGM,
Oct. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of The Canons of Good Breeding]," (BGM,
Nov. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of W. G. Simms's The Damsel of Darien],"
(BGM, Nov. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of The Christian Keepsake and Missionary Annual
for 1840]," (BGM, Dec. 1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of G. P. Morris's National Melodies of America],"
(BGM, Dec. 1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures
of Nicholas Nickleby]," (BGM, Dec. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Joseph O. Chandler's "Address before the Goethean
Society"]," (BGM, Dec. 1839)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Thomas Moore's Alciphron]," (BGM,
Jan. 1840)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of H. W. Longfellow's Voices of the Night],"
(BGM, Feb. 1840)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Duncan's Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons],"
(BGM, Mar. 1840)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of N. P. Willis's Romance of Travel]," (BGM,
Mar. 1840)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[A Notice of William Cullen Bryant]," (BGM, May.
1840)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Memoirs and Letters of Madame Malibran],"
(BGM, May 1840)
Status:
Argument:
Graham's Magazine
Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia) was founded in 1841 by George Rex
Graham (1813-1894). In May of 1839, Graham purchased Atkinson's Casket.
In October of 1840, he also purchased Burton's Gentleman's Magazine.
He continued to issue both peridoicals until the end of year since most
magazines were issued in six-month volumes running from January through
June and July through December. The first issue of Graham's Magazine
appeared in January of 1841 as volume XVIII, reflecting its continuation
of the Casket. Poe had been editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine
but left at the end of May of 1840 in a personal dispute with Burton, who
had decided to sell the magazine. Poe became literary editor of Graham's
in 1841. He left in 1842 with hopes of creating his own magazine, plans
which never came to fruition. During his period as editor, the subscription
for the magazine went from 5,000 to 37,000, making it one of the most popular
periodicals of its day. Poe disliked the "namby-pamby" fashion plates and
sentimental engravings, but appreciated Graham for paying more fairly for
contributions than did his competitors. Although Graham himself was forced
to sell controlling interest in the magazine in 1848, but Graham's Magazine
continued until 1858. Some reviews written prior to April of 1841 have
been attribued to Poe, but erroneously and are therefore not included here.
-
Title: "[Review of Bulwer's Night and Morning]," (GM,
April 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Walsh's Sketches of Conspicuous Living Characters
of France]," (GM, April 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Charles Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop and
Other Tales and Master Humphrey's Clock]," (GM, May 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of C. F. Francis's Writings of Charles Sprague],"
(GM, May 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of T. B. Macaulay's Critical and Miscellaneous
Essays]," (GM, June 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Pue's A Grammar of the English Language],"
(GM, July 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Seba Smith's Powhatan]," (GM, July
1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Lambert A. Wilmer's The Quacks of Helicon],"
(GM, Aug. 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Washington Irving's Biography and Poetical
Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson]," (GM, Aug. 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of J. L. Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Central
America]," (GM, Aug. 1841)
Status:
Argument: J. A. Harrison's Bibliography.
-
Title: "[Review of Marryat's Joseph Rushbrook, or, The Poacher],"
(GM, Sept. 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Campbell's Life of Petrach]," (GM,
Sept. 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Ainsworth's Guy Fawkes]," (GM,
Nov. 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Lucretia Maria Davidson's Poetical Remains],"
(GM, Dec. 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Cockton's Stanley Thorn]," (GM,
Jan. 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge]," (GM,
Feb. 1842)
Status:
Argument: (revision of Evening Post version???)
-
Title: "[Review of Matthews's Wakondah]," (GM, Feb.
1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Lever's Charles O'Malley]," (GM,
Mar. 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of H. W. Longfellow's Ballads and Other Poems],"
(GM, April 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Henry Lord Brougham's Critical and Miscellaneous
Writings]," (GM, Mar. 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Nathanel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales],"
(GM, April and May 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[The Poetry of Rufus Dawes. A Retrospective Criticism],"
(GM, Oct. 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Our Amateur Poets: Flaccus [Thomas Ward]," (GM, Mar.
1843)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Our Amateur Poets: William Ellery Channing," (GM,
Aug. 1843)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Our Contributors, No. VIII [Fitz-Greene Halleck]," (GM,
Sept. 1843)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of J. N. Reynolds's A Brief Account of the Discoveries
and Results of the United State's Exploring Expedition]," (GM,
Sept. 1843)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of J. F. Cooper's Wyandotte]," (GM,
Nov. 1843)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Horne's Orion]," (GM Jan. 1844)
Status:
Argument: (There are two reviews, a full one from March 1844
and a shorter one in January 1844. Mabbott attributes the January one to
Poe because it contains a promise for a fuller review, which he presumes
to be the March one. Mabbott, "Newly-Identified Reviews by Edgar Poe,"
Notes and Queries, Dec. 17, 1932, p. 441.
-
Title: "[Review of Cooper's Ned Myers]," (GM, Jan.
1844)
Status:
Argument: Mabbott attributes the review to Poe because it contains
a reference to his own editing of A. G. Pym. Mabbott, "Newly-Identified
Reviews by Edgar Poe," Notes and Queries, Dec. 17, 1932, p. 441.
-
Title: Eugene Sue, (GM, Feb. 1844)
Status:
Argument: Mabbott attributes the review to Poe because it contains
a strong stylistic and material similarities to lines about the same book
in Poe's "Marginalia" series. Mabbott, "Newly-Identified Reviews by Edgar
Poe," Notes and Queries, Dec. 17, 1932, p. 441.
-
Title: "[Review of Horne's Orion]," (GM, Mar. 1844)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of J. R. Lowell's Poems]," (GM, Mar.
1844)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: Epes Sargent (GM, June 1844)
Status:
Argument: Mabbott attributes the review to Poe because it contains
a strong stylistic and material similarities to lines about the Sargent
in Poe's "Literati" series. Mabbott, "Newly-Identified Reviews by Edgar
Poe," Notes and Queries, Dec. 17, 1932, p. 441.
-
Title: "Our Contributors, No. XII [Robert T. Conrad]," (GM,
June 1844)
Status: Accepted
Argument: In letter II to the Columbia Spy, Poe notes
that the June issue of Graham's Magazine contains ". . . a portrait
of Judge Conrad, the author of 'Aylmere,' which is no portrait at all --
althogether too baby-ish -- character-less. The biography (by a friend
of yours) does no more than justice" (The Columbia Spy, May 25,
1844, reprinted by Spannuth and Mabbott, Doings in Gotham, p. 35).
Notes: The article was first reprinted by Spannuth and Mabbott
in Doings in Gotham, 1929, pp. 93-101.
The Broadway Journal
-
Title: "[Review of Mrs. Browning's The Drama of Exile],"
(BJ, Jan. 11, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of J. R. Lowell's Conversations," (BJ,
Jan. 18, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton's Poems]," (BJ,
Feb. 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Imitation -- Plagiarism -- Mr. Poe's Reply to the Letter
of Outis -- A Large Account of a Small Matter -- A Voluminous History of
the Little Longfellow War," (BJ, Mar. 8, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Satirical Poems [Review of Park Benjamin's Infatuation],"
(BJ, Mar. 15, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "A Continuation of the Voluminous History of the Little Longfellow
War -- Mr. Poe's Farther Reply to the Letter of Outis," (BJ, Mar.
15, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "More of the Voluminous History of the Little Longfellow
War -- Mr. Poe's Third Chapter of Reply to the Letter of Outis," (BJ,
Mar. 22, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Imitation -- Plagiarism -- The Conclusion of Mr. Poe's Reply
to the Letter of Outis," (BJ, Mar. 29, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Plagiarism -- Imitiation -- Postscript to Mr. Poe's Reply
to the Letter of Outis," (BJ, April 5, 1845)
Status:
Argument:
Other Peridocials
-
Title: "[Review of Stephens's Incidents of Travels in Egypt,
Arabia Petraea and the Holy Land]," (New York Review, Oct. 1837)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of N. P. Willis's Tortesa, the Usurer],"
(Pittsburgh Literary Examiner, July 1839)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge]," (Saturday
Evening Post, May 1841)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of R. W. Griswold's Poets and Poetry of America],"
(Boston Miscellany, Nov. 1842)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Does the Drama of Today Deserve Support?," (Evening Mirror,
Jan. 9 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Review of Longfellow's Waif]," (Evening Mirror,
Jan. 13 and 14 1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "Imitation -- Plagiarism," (Evening Mirror, Feb. 15
1845)
Status:
Argument:
-
Title: "[Notice of Lowell's magazine the Pioneer]", (Philadelphia
Saturday Museum, mid-Jan., 1843?. Reprinted on the cover of the Pioneer
for January 1843.)
Status:
Argument: Mabbott attributes to Poe, Mabbott, "A Review of Lowell's
Magazine," Notes and Queries, p. 23. (Mabbott reprints the full
text.)
~~~ End of Text ~~~