POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA. Introduction. FROM THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS TO THE REVOLUTION. (2) xili 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 He forfeits a finger, a foot, or a hand. 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. chusetts Historical Society. The first verses New England's annoyances, you that would know them, 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 But when the spring opens, we then take the hoe, We repair to the clam banks, and there we catch fish. 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 Gop'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, Yea, even then, wee mourned when Wee remembered Sion. 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, Sing us among a Sion's song, Unto us then they said. The LORD's song sing can wee, being In stranger's land? then let • Lose her skill my right hand if I 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 Cainbridge, 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 compelled 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 Roxb'ry poets keep clear of the crime |