A writer once ranked among the first of American essayists, but whose criticisms, though delicate and discriminating, lack the force and originality of many later writers in the same field. Much of his life was spent abroad, largely in Italy, his intimate acquaintance with Italian affairs appearing in his earliest works, “The Italian Sketch Book;” “Isabel, or Sicily, a Pilgrimage” (1839), republished as “Sicily and Pilgrimage” (1852). His subsequent writings include, “Thoughts on the Poets;” “The Book of the Artists;” “Essays, Biographical and Critical;” “Artist Life;” “Rambles and Reveries;” “Characteristics of Literature;” “The Criterion;” “Maga Papers about Paris;” “Leaves from the Diary of a Dreamer;” “Life of J. P. Kennedy;” “America and Her Commentators;” “The Optimist,” a series of essays; “A Sheaf of Verse;” “Poems;” “Mental Portraits;” “The Collector,” a volume of essays. See “Allibone’s Dictionary;” “Foley’s American Writers.”
Personal
It would be impossible to fill his vacant niche in the social world; for not alone was the character of the man a rare one, but the conditions under which he was educated, the traditions of elegant breeding which existed in his youth, are now almost entirely obliterated and forgotten. The flippancy and irreverence of the present age are at war with that old-fashioned politeness which he loved and practised. Mr. Tuckerman belonged to the aristocratic class, if we have such a one, and he might well have been a useless, fine gentleman; but his goodness and greatness of heart, his interest in his fellows, his sympathy with all progressive ideas, saved him from sinking into the abyss of mere conventionalities. If ever a man deserved “the grand old name of gentleman” it was Henry T. Tuckerman. He loved beauty, talent, luxury, wealth, refinement; his home was the elegant salon, where all these graces meet. He considered his social duties as a part of the business of life, and was a famous diner-out; a payer of morning visits; and often seen in the evening at the gayest parties of the gayest city of this country. Yet the dignity and sweetness of his character kept him ever above the suspicion of being an idler, or mere man of pleasure. He was very fond of gossip. But what gossip—gossip which had been filtered through a golden medium, all the sparkle and wit remaining, all the malice and uncharitableness left out! He was the kindly ambassador of society, going from house to house, with the latest mot, the interesting anecdote, the friendly message. It was he who spread the news of the arrival of some intelligent foreigner, of the exhibition of some new picture, of the last readable book. His sympathy was so perfect, his wit so genial, his friendship so quiet and constant, that he was always gaining friends, and probably never lost one in his life.
One of the handsomest men of his day [1840], and one of the most accomplished gentlemen…. A figure of something more than medium height, with face slightly Roman in cast and Southern-European in suggestion; strong brows; pleasant dark eyes; close-cut, dark curling hair, and full beard and mustache, also dark and curling. Sweetly grave in manner, with flashes of absolute mischief in conversation.
General
He is a correct writer so far as mere English is concerned, but an insufferably tedious and dull one.
His principal poem, entitled “The Spirit of Poetry,” was published in 1843. It is didactic and critical, carefully studied and highly finished. His minor pieces have more fancy and feeling. Some of them are passionate and tender, and they generally evince much delicacy, and a manly sincerity of disposition.
I do not know when I have read any work [“Essays”] more uniformly rich, full, and well sustained. The liberal, generous, catholic spirit in which it is written, is beyond all praise. The work is a model of its kind. I have no doubt that it will take a high stand in England, and will reflect great credit on our literature, of which it will remain a lasting ornament.
No more interesting and instructive books can be found in our literature than Tuckerman’s “Thoughts on the Poets,” “The Optimist,” “Characteristics of Literature,” and “Essays, Biographical and Critical.” The two latter would be excellent books for the higher classes in schools; and the four should be in every district-school library in the land.
H. T. Tuckerman is a genial and appreciative writer, combining extensive scholarship with elevated sentiment and feeling.
He published a volume of poems, which show a cultivated taste and considerable poetic feeling. He has also written several memoirs and biographies; but his chief employment was that of essayist, literary and art critic, and narrator of the lighter incidents of travel. His appreciative feeling, good taste, and long practice gave him the skill, and his pleasant habit of observation and retentive memory furnished the materials. He never probed a subject deeply, never developed principles, except very obvious ones, was never strongly graphic in description, nor keen in analysis; but the stream of his prose ran smoothly on until the salient points of his theme were pleasantly touched upon, and its associations were gracefully hinted at; and the reader, without fatigue, closed the book with the thought that he had spent an hour with more or less profit in the company of an amiable, well-informed, and well-bred man of the world.
Before concluding, it may be well to mention some names without which even so limited a view of American literature as the present would be incomplete. And first, honor is due to Henry T. Tuckerman, who for nearly forty years was the associate of American authors, and who labored year after year to diffuse a taste for literature by his articles in reviews and magazines. He belonged to the class of appreciative critics, and was never more pleased than when he exercised the resources of a cultivated mind to analyze, explain, and celebrate the merits of others.
He was a prolific, but never, in the commercial sense, a successful writer…. In poetry, he preferred the school of Pope, Cowper, and Burns to the modern style, so largely influenced by Tennyson, Browning, and their imitators. His principal poem, published in Boston in 1851, and entitled “The Spirit of Poetry,” is an elaborate essay in heroic verse of some seven hundred lines. He was a close student of art, as his writings show.
