Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “Mrs. Lewis’ Poems,” Western Quarterly Review, April 1849, pp. 404-408

[page 404:]

The Child of the Sea and other Poems. By S. ANNA LEWIS. George P. Putnam, New York.

Mrs. Lewis acquired, almost immediately upon her literary debut, a reputation of which any American poetess might be proud, and has since steadily and very rapidly advanced in the public estimation, both in securing the voice of the many, and in winning the hearts of the few whose appreciation a poet could alone desire, the author of “Florence,” of “Zenel,” of “The Bride of Guayaquil,” of “The Forsaken” and of “The Child of the Sea,” has been pre-eminently successful. Mr. Willis, Mr. Bryant and many others who hold the highest rank in our Literary Republic, have not only felt but cordially expressed their sense of her genius. If laudari a laudatis be grateful to the soul of a poet, then Mrs. Lewis has had abundant reason to be happy and proud.

Our authoress is one of the youngest of American poetesses, and gave indication, at a very early age, of the powers she has since so strikingly and fully manifested. The first poetical effort, however, which brought her name very especially before the eye of the public, was “The Ruins of Palenque” which appeared originally in “The New World.” This poem, which was extensively copied, is based on a passage in Stephens’ “Travels in Central America.” In 1844 the Appletons published, at New York, her “Records of the Heart,” a large edition of which was soon exhausted. In 1846 appeared, in “The Democratic Review,” her “Broken Heart,” a poem in three cantos; since which she has given to the world a number of minor compositions, chiefly poetical, through the medium of various periodical works among which the principal are the Democratic and American Reviews. Her last, longest, and beyond all question her most meritorious production, however, is that which Mr. Putnam has just issued and which forms the heading of the present hurried critique. [page 405:]

With the exception, perhaps, of “The Broken Heart,” (which forms a portion of the volume now before us) the best of Mrs. Lewis’ earlier poems are included, for the most part, in “The Records of the Heart.” “Florence” is the opening composition in that collection; and is strongly characteristic embodying nearly all the author's peculiarities of subject, manner, and turn of thought. It is a tale of fervid romance, instinct with the poetic sentiment and spirit, although neither so accurately finished nor so elaborate as some of her late productions. “Laone,” “Melpomene,” “Zenel,” “The Bride of Guayaqil” and “The Last Hour of Sappho,” are the most important of the remaining poems in the volume. They all breathe, however, the same spirit and are distinguished by the glow, the enthusiasm, the dreamy romance and apparent (or perhaps real) abandon of expression. To quote individual passages from poems so long as are all those just mentioned, would be to render the author a disservice but we will make our readers amende by the citation of two of her shorter pieces each exquisite in a different way.

TO E.

There must be something more than ordinarily impressive, both in the sentiment and expression, as well as in the cadence, of a refrain, to enable us to admire it, or even to tolerate it, unaltered in its phraseology, through the whole of even a brief poem. We must therefore consider the lines “And thus, lost one,” &c., &c., as essentially poetical; and they are. Throughout the whole composition there is a sustained and quiet dignity which is very impressive. But in terse, natural, passionate expression they are not to be compared with

THE FORSAKEN.

We can never speak of think of these lines without enthusiasm. They are supremely beautiful in their natural pathos. The passages italicised fill us with a shuddering delight in which we recognize the earnest power of the poet. This poem could not have been written without first profoundly despairingly felt.

The “Child of the Sea” is a tale of romantic adventure of love, sorrow and crime. It most fully exemplifies the peculiar tone of the author's mind its romance first its enthusiasm its abandon. It is more skilfully executed, however, better versified and more artistically constructed as a tale, than “Florence” or any other similar narrative by this author. The story is [page 408:] deeply interesting full of adventure, passion and imagination. It would not be doing Mrs. Lewis justice to give any digest of the story; and we must content ourselves with a merely general expression of admiration, and the citation of some passages at random.

CRIME.

DEATH.

LOVE AND MADNESS.