Yet
though this volume contains little poetry, both the subjects and the
sentiments will everywhere command respect. That piece in the
volume, which pleased us most, was the address to his first-born
child.
_America -- an Ode; and other Poems._
By N. W. COFFIN. Boston: S. G. SIMPKINS.
Our Maecenas shakes his head very doubtfully at this
well-printed Ode, and only says, "An ode nowadays needs to be
admirable to carry sail at all. Mr. Sprague's Centennial Ode, and
Ode at the Shakspeare Jubilee, are the only American lyrics that we
have prospered in reading, -- if we dare still remember them." Yet he
adds mercifully, "The good verses run like golden brooks through the
dark forests of toil, rippling and musical, and undermine the heavy
banks till they fall in and are borne away. Thirty-five pieces
follow the Ode, of which everything is neat, pretty, harmonious,
tasteful, the sentiment pleasing, manful, if not inspired. If the
poet have nothing else, he has a good ear."
_Poems by_
WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. Boston. 1843.
We have already expressed our faith in Mr.
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