SOURCE: “Paul Hamilton Hayne,” in Poets of the South: A Series of Biographical and Critical Studies with Typical Poems, Annotated, American Book Company, 1903, pp. 49‐64.

In the following essay, Painter provides a brief overview of Hayne's writing.

The poetry of Paul Hamilton Hayne is characterized by a singular delicacy of sentiment and expression. There is an utter absence of what is gross or commonplace. His poetry, as a whole, carries with it an atmosphere of high‐bred refinement. We recognize at once fineness of fiber and of culture. It could not well be otherwise; for the poet traced the line of his ancestors to the cultured nobility of England, and, surrounded by wealth, was brought up in the home of Southern chivalry.

The aristocratic lineage of the Hayne family was not reflected in its political feelings and affiliations in this country. They were not Tories; on the contrary, from...