A Masque of Poets
Description
"Success is counted sweetest / By those who ne'er succeed. / To comprehend a nectar / Requires sorest need." How do we measure literary achievement? Is the fame of a poet merely a matter of reputation, or an indication of that poet's timeless talent? A Masque of Poets attempts to answer these questions by allowing the poems to speak for themselves.
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Person
George Parsons Lathrop (1851-1898) was an American editor, poet, and novelist. Born in Honolulu, he was educated in New York City and Dresden, Germany. After a brief time abroad, he returned to New York to pursue his literary interests. After marrying Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, in 1871, Lathrop became the associate editor for the Atlantic Monthly and later the Boston Courier. In the late 1870s, he worked as an editor for Roberts Brothers, overseeing the publication of such works as A Masque of Poets (1878), which compiled the works of several dozen English and American writers. Part of the Boston-based publisher's "No Name" series, A Masque of Poets presented the works of little-known writers-including Emily Dickinson-alongside such recognized masters as Christina Rossetti and James Russell Lowell, leaving each poem anonymous to allow the reader to experience the work without thought of reputation. A relatively minor figure in nineteenth century American literature, Lathrop was nevertheless an interesting and industrious man whose personal and professional life brought him in contact with some of the leading artists of the era.
