| Front | Fable for critics |
|---|---|
| Back | A verse satire James Russell Lowell 1848 At a gathering on Olympus a critic is asked by Apollo to give an account of the state of letters in America Fable for Critics satirized many of the most important figures in American literature at the time, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Fenimore Cooper. Many of his harshest judgments were aimed at names that have not survived in posterity, including Nathaniel Parker Willis, Cornelius Mathews, and Fitz-Greene Halleck. He gave ample praise to Charles Frederick Briggs and Lydia Maria Child, though he was friends with both and likely allowed his friendship to inflate his assessment of their talents. Of Edgar Allan Poe, he said he was "three-fifths genius... and two-fifths sheer fudge". Lowell included himself as well, referring to himself as having difficulty determining the difference "'twixt singing and preaching". Many of the poetic portraits were balanced with praise, as in Halleck's: |
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