Paul Hamilton Hayne (January 1, 1830 – July 6, 1886) was a nineteenth-century
Southern American poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
,
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...
, and
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
.
Biography
Paul Hamilton Hayne was born in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
on January 1, 1830. After losing his father as a young child, Hayne was reared by his mother in the home of his prosperous and prominent uncle,
Robert Y. Hayne
Robert Young Hayne (November 10, 1791 – September 24, 1839) was an American lawyer, planter and politician. He served in the United States Senate from 1823 to 1832, as Governor of South Carolina 1832–1834, and as Mayor of Charleston 1836– ...
, who was an
orator
An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.
Etymology
Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...
and politician who served in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
.
Hayne was educated in Charleston city schools and graduated from the
College of Charleston
The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...
in 1852. He began the practice of law but soon abandoned it in order to pursue his literary interests and ambitions. Hayne served in the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
army in 1861 and remained in the army until his health failed after four months, where he served as aide-de-camp to South Carolina Governor
Francis Pickens
Francis Wilkinson Pickens (1805/1807January 25, 1869) was a political Democrat and Governor of South Carolina when that state became the first to secede from the United States.
A cousin of US Senator John C. Calhoun, Pickens was born into the ...
.
[More, Rayburn S. Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The nineteenth century. ed Eric L. Haralson, John Hollander Taylor & Francis, 1998, page 203-206] He lost all of his possessions — including his house and an extensive library — when Charleston was bombarded in 1862. In 1863, Hayne moved his family to
Grovetown, Georgia
Grovetown is a city in Columbia County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Augusta metropolitan area and the Central Savannah River Area. The 2019 population estimate was 15,152. The mayor is Gary Jones.
History
From the building of the ...
, a wooded area about 16 miles from
Augusta,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
. Here, Hayne lived and worked until his death in 1886. Grovetown was also where his career as a literary critic and magazine editor began. He contributed to important magazines of the South during his era, including the ''Charleston Literary Gazette'', the ''
Southern Literary Messenger
The ''Southern Literary Messenger'' was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864, and from 1939 to 1945. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some var ...
'', the ''
Home Journal
''Town & Country'', formerly the ''Home Journal'' and ''The National Press'', is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States.
History
Early history
The magazine w ...
'', and ''
Southern Bivouac
''Southern Bivouac'' was a little magazine published by the Southern Historical Association of Louisville between 1882 and 1887. Written by several former Confederate army officers, it featured tales of many of exploits never before told by the m ...
''. Hayne was also instrumental with Southern novelist
William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was an American writer and politician from the American South who was a "staunch defender" of slavery. A poet, novelist, and historian, his ''History of South Carolina'' served as the defin ...
in the founding of ''Russell's Magazine'', which Hayne edited.
Hayne is also noteworthy for his friendship with fellow Southern poet
Henry Timrod
Henry Timrod (December 8, 1828 – October 7, 1867) was an American poet, often called the "Poet of the Confederacy".
Biography Early life
Timrod was born on December 8, 1828, in Charleston, South Carolina, to a family of German descent. His gr ...
, whom Hayne helped with both his life and his career. Timrod was frail and ill throughout his life with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, and Hayne helped to provide financially for Timrod and his wife and young son. Most importantly for literature and history, Hayne preserved Timrod's poems and edited them into a collection that was published in 1872 and that presented such historically important poems as "The Cotton Boll" and "
Ode Sung On The Occasion Of Decorating The Graves Of The Confederate Dead". Timrod now has the greater reputation as a poet, while Hayne is known more for his role as an editor and literary critic than as a poet. Timrod has continued to influence other modern Southern writers, including the poet
Allen Tate
John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and poet laureate from 1943 to 1944.
Life
Early years
Tate was born near Winchester, ...
, whose most famous poem, "Ode to the Confederate Dead", owes a great deal to Timrod's similarly titled poem.
Hayne had a friendship also with
Sidney Lanier
Sidney Clopton Lanier (February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881) was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned (resulting in his catch ...
. Though the two never met, they corresponded, and advised each other--Hayne suggested to Lanier that he leave the medievalism of his poem "The Jacquerie" alone and turn to Southern topics, and Lanier helping Hayne to strive for "more simplicity and directness in his poems".
Hayne died at his home, Copse Hill, at
Grovetown, Georgia
Grovetown is a city in Columbia County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Augusta metropolitan area and the Central Savannah River Area. The 2019 population estimate was 15,152. The mayor is Gary Jones.
History
From the building of the ...
, on July 6, 1886. His papers are variously preserved in the libraries of the
College of Charleston
The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...
,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, and the
South Carolina Historical Society
The South Carolina Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1855 to preserve South Carolina's rich historical legacy. The SCHS is the state's oldest and largest private repository of books, letters, journals, maps, d ...
.
Writings
Hayne's first volume of poetry, ''Poems'', was published in 1855 by
Ticknor and Fields
Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, ...
; not every critic loved it, but it drew attention from national magazines, more so than any of his later volumes. ''Sonnets and Other Poems'' (1857) sold fewer than 200 copies, and ''Avolio'' (1859) was little noticed despite a positive review by
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that ri ...
. After the Civil War, ''Legends and Lyrics'' (1872) and ''The Mountains of the Lovers'' (1875) fared no better.
[ A complete edition appeared in 1882. His poetry emphasizes romantic verse, long narrative poems, and ballads. Like other fellow Southern poets of his day, his work was highly descriptive of nature. Some critics contend that his graceful lyrics reflect the influence of poet ]John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
.[Moore, Rayburn S. ''Paul Hamilton Hayne''. Twayne Publishers, 1972: 29.] In a review of his work by Rayburn S. Moore, his influences are described as also including Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
, Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
, and Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, although the derivative nature and lack of intellectual force are considered weaknesses. Moore considers strengths of Hayne's poetry to include the authenticity of detail and observation of locality and situation as well as the versatility of forms, metrical schemes, and techniques, especially in short poems and sonnets.[ Hayne's ]sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...
s are considered his best work. He was appreciated even in the north and became known as an unofficial poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
of the South, and at least one scholar referred to him as a "Poet of the Confederacy".
The Paul Hayne School in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
was named for Hayne after he sent an original poem and book of verse to the school on the occasion of its dedication in 1886.
See also
* Four Southern Poets Monument
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Paul Hamilton Hayne
historical marker
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Paul Hamilton Hayne notes, 1881
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayne, Paul Hamilton
1830 births
1886 deaths
19th-century American journalists
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American poets
American book editors
American magazine editors
Confederate States Army soldiers
Poets from Georgia (U.S. state)
Poets from South Carolina
College of Charleston
People from Grovetown, Georgia
Poets of the Confederacy
Writers from Charleston, South Carolina