SOURCE: Paul Hamilton Hayne: Life and Letters, The Outline Company, 1951, pp. 70‐4.

In the following excerpt, Becker discusses Hayne's sonnets and presents illustrative examples of his poetry.

Paul Hamilton Hayne is sometimes called the Longfellow of the American sonnet. The title is extravagant, of course, for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow will always remain supreme as America's sonneteer. Hayne's contribution to this poetic form was a hundred and fifty sonnets, a number equalled by no other American poet. Sharpe included seven of his sonnets in his Anthology, but called him, “the impassioned but too regardlessly profuse singer of the South.” Undoubtedly his rank would have been higher and more permanent, had he exercised greater restraint. The poet recognized that diffusiveness was a characteristic weakness of his poetry, particularly his narratives. While it is evident that the sonnet appealed to him because of its beauty and artistry, he also knew that the...