The quarter-century of civil disunion before and after the Civil War was both favorable and unfavorable to the literary development of Virginia.
It has always been in great crises that the intellectual majesty of Virginia has shown forth most resplendent. Never did her poets sing more sweetly than when voicing the glory, grief, and gloom of the Confederacy. Often when the mailed hand of war plucks rudely at the quivering heart-strings, the consonant chords of the lyre echo with the noblest melody. No wonder, then, that much of the most melodious poetry ever written in Virginia was directly inspired by the dissensions of 1850-1876. But war and its passions by no means inspired all the lays of Virginia poets. Before the opening of hostilities, James A. Bartley's "Lays of Ancient Virginia" burned its sweet incense upon the altars of poesy. A glimpse into these pages will reveal that incense burning still, with a fragrance that enchants, and leads the reader deep into the pastoral, and emotional and psychological, beauties of ancient Virginia. (This commentary based on remarks in Carol Montgomery Newman's "Virginia Literature" (1903).)
The quarter-century of civil disunion before and after the Civil War was both favorable and unfavorable to the literary development of Virginia.
It has always been in great crises that the intellectual majesty of Virginia has shown forth most resplendent. Never did her poets sing more sweetly than when voicing the glory, grief, and gloom of the Confederacy. Often when the mailed hand of war plucks rudely at the quivering heart-strings, the consonant chords of the lyre echo with the noblest melody. No wonder, then, that much of the most melodious poetry ever written in Virginia was directly inspired by the dissensions of 1850-1876. But war and its passions by no means inspired all the lays of Virginia poets. Before the opening of hostilities, James A. Bartley's "Lays of Ancient Virginia" burned its sweet incense upon the altars of poesy. A glimpse into these pages will reveal that incense burning still, with a fragrance that enchants, and leads the reader deep into the pastoral, and emotional and psychological, beauties of ancient Virginia. (This commentary based on remarks in Carol Montgomery Newman's "Virginia Literature" (1903).)
The quarter-century of civil disunion before and after the Civil War was both favorable and unfavorable to the literary development of Virginia.
It has always been in great crises that the intellectual majesty of Virginia has shown forth most resplendent. Never did her poets sing more sweetly than when voicing the glory, grief, and gloom of the Confederacy. Often when the mailed hand of war plucks rudely at the quivering heart-strings, the consonant chords of the lyre echo with the noblest melody. No wonder, then, that much of the most melodious poetry ever written in Virginia was directly inspired by the dissensions of 1850-1876. But war and its passions by no means inspired all the lays of Virginia poets. Before the opening of hostilities, James A. Bartley's "Lays of Ancient Virginia" burned its sweet incense upon the altars of poesy. A glimpse into these pages will reveal that incense burning still, with a fragrance that enchants, and leads the reader deep into the pastoral, and emotional and psychological, beauties of ancient Virginia. (This commentary based on remarks in Carol Montgomery Newman's "Virginia Literature" (1903).)