The issue of Longfellow’s standing—how long his fame and reputation would endure—became a talking point for his many supporters and few detractors. In this poetic study of contemporary American authors, Lowell combines his evaluation of Poe and Longfellow, characterizing the Raven’s criticism as so many “mud-balls.” Although Poe and Lowell had been professional friends in the early 1840s, Poe’s rough, if often accurate, treatment of Longfellow affected the relationship. In a biographical sketch published in 1843, Lowell called Poe a “genius.” Here he is less positive: “There comes Poe, with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge,  / Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudg.” .  .  .   Beyond this, Lowell offers his own short-sighted prediction:

What’s this? Messieurs Mathews and Poe,
You mustn’t fling mud-balls at Longfellow so,
Does it make a man worse that his character’s such
As to make his friends love him (as you think) too much?
                                  .  .  .
You may say that he’s smooth and all that till
     you’re hoarse
But remember that elegance also is force;
After polishing granite as much as you will,
The heart keeps its tough old persistency still;
Deduct all you can that still keeps you at bay,
Why, he’ll live till men weary of Collins and Gray.

Lowell’s prediction turned out to be true only insofar as men wearied of Collins and Gray before they wearied of Longfellow!

Boston Public Library, Rare Books & Manuscripts