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11. Ralph Hoyt
Ralph Hoyt (1806-1878), the son of a farmer, was born in New York, but spent his childhood years on Long Island. He married at nineteen and during his early manhood worked as a cabinet maker and as a teacher in New York. But he had long wished to become a minister, and while engaged in these occupations he entered upon a self-taught course in theology. In 1842 he took orders in the Episcopal Church and in 1846 organized, in New York the Church of the Good Shepherd, which he served as rector. His verse appeared in the Literary World, the American Review, and elsewhere. About 1853 he moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where until his death he was the minister of a church built chiefly by his own efforts.
Among Hoyt's volumes of poetry are A Chaunt of Life and Other Poems (1845), Sketches of Life and Landscape (1849) and Echoes of Memory and Emotion (1859). A collection of his poems was privately printed (1875-1876).(1)
If Poe was acquainted with Hoyt, it is likely that they met through Evert Duyckinck, who attended Hoyt's church and was god-father to Evert Duyckinck Hoyt, the clergyman's son.(2) Perhaps [page 324:] it was because he did not wish to offend Hoyt or Duyckinck that Poe, in reviewing A Chaunt of Life and Other Poems in the Broadway Journal for July 26, 1845,(3) gave the volume his gentle treatment. The review is a delicate balance of tepid praise and mild censure. Poe quoted from the poems some “remarkably beautiful lines,” some “exquisite passages of pathos and of imagination,” and a stanza “which would do no discredit to Campbell.” But he implied that certain poems were imitative and reproved imperfect meter and obvious straining for effect. On the whole, the work is treated with more respect than it seems to deserve. Hoyt's mediocre verse is of the sort that Poe could consummately “use up” when he wished. Even more complimentary to Hoyt is the “Literati” sketch,(4) which consists chiefly of the more favorable portions of the Journal review.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 323:]
1 Hoyt's undated letter to Evert Duyckinck (MS in the Duyckinck Collection, New York Public Library); the anonymous sketch of Hoyt in Holden's Dollar Magazine, II, 425-428 (July, 1848); the Duyckincks’ Cyclopaedia (1880), II, 397; the National Cyclopaedia, VII, 453; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia; and the obituary notice in the New York Times, October 15, 1878, p. 2.
2 Duyckinck's diary, June 27, September 12, 26, 1847 (MS in the Duyckinck Collection, New York Public Library).
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 324:]
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - PNYL, 1954] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Bookshelf - Poe and the New York Literati (Reece)