Text: James Kirke Paulding to Edgar Allan Poe — after June 7, 1836


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[[. . . .]] I should not hesitate in placing the “Messenger” decidedly at the head of our periodicals, nor do I hesitate in expressing that opinion freely on all occasions. It is gradually growing in the public estimation, and under your conduct, and with your contributions, must soon, if it is not already, be known all over the land. [[. . . .]] You have given sufficient evidence on various occasions, not only of critical knowledge but of high independence; your praise is therefore of value, and your censure not to be slighted. Allow me to say that I think your article on Drake and Halleck one of the finest pieces of criticism ever published in this country [[. . . .]]


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Notes:

The first of these brief excerpts from Paulding’s letter was printed, along with similar comments from various other writers, in the supplement to the Southern Literary Messenger for July 1836. The second excerpt, which is presumed to be from the same letter, is also quoted in the biographical article on Poe from the Philadelphia Saturday Museum, March 4, 1843: “Of the review of ‘Drake and Halleck’ Mr. J. K. Paulding says, in a letter now upon our table, ‘I think it one of the finest pieces of criticism ever published in this country’.” The review of Drake and Halleck was published in the SLM for April 1836. Charles H. Watts, in “Poe, Irving, and The Southern Literary Messenger,” American Literature (May 1955) 27:249-251, tentatively identifies the author of the second excerpt as Irving, based on Poe’s comment that it was written by “. .. an individual second to no American author in the wide-spread popularity of his writings, and in their universal appreciation by men of letters, both in the United States and England.” Instead, it simply seems that Poe was trying to present one bit of praise as two, and therefore had to be elusive in the attribution of the second by describing rather than naming the author.  The nearly identical phrase in the Saturday Museum article, with a clear and specific attribution to Paulding, must be considered conclusive.


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[S:0 - MS, 18xx] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Misc - Letters - J. K. Paulding to Poe (RCL148a)