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[page 387, column 1, continued:]
The Poems of Alfred B. Street. Complete Edition. New York: Clark & Austin.
Most of the poems here included, are familiar friends, and we cordially welcome their re-appearance. A modest Preface says:
The early life of the author was spent in a wild and picturesque region in the southwestern part of New York — his native state. Apart from the busy haunts of mankind, his eye was caught by the strongly marked and beautiful scenes by which he was surrounded: and to the first impressions thus made may be attributed the fact that his subjects relate so much to Nature and so little to Man. Instead, therefore, of aiming to depict the human heart, he has endeavored to sketch (however rudely and imperfectly) the features of that with which he was most familiar.
These are the impulsive words of a true poet. Man is, in fact, only incidentally a poetic theme: — we mean the heart and intellect of Man — matters which the pseudo-transcendentalists of Frogpondium are perpetually attempting to force into poetry — with no other object than to impart to their doggrel an air of profundity.
Mr. Street's subjects are invariably poetical ones — but they belong not to the loftiest order. They are descriptive altogether — not sufficiently ideal. Mr. Bryant seems to have been the model — although the Beauty of Nature may have been the inspiration.
The volume is a very handsome octavo of 319 pages, and does credit to the taste and liberality of the publishers.
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Notes:
This review was attributed as being by Poe by W. D. Hull.
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[S:0 - BJ, 1845] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Criticism - Literary (Poe?, 1845)