Humor
Although credited with having written one of the seminal poems about America with “Old Ironsides” and enjoying a very long and very successful career, Holmes is rarely mentioned on any list of the America’s greatest poets. His verse is recognized for its technical proficiency that matches metrical perfection with a mastery of diction, but for all that he excels other less proficient composers of verse, his status is almost universally lowed when it comes to those more creative aspects of poetry.
One criticism level against the critics of Holmes by his admirers is that his poetry has never received serious scholarly attention because of the abundance of humor. Many of his poems are forthright examples of humorous verse while those which are not directly comical are often tempered a lighter tone than is usually required for recognition as a serious master of the form. While critics may be put at a disadvantage to prove any significant disparity exists in technical master between Holmes and a poet like Shelley, one never sees Holmes mentioned in the same hushed tones as those applied to Shelley. What Holmes does have over the tragic British Romantic, however, should not be glibly ignored: Shelley just isn’t funny. At all.
American History
It was a poem about American history written when he was just 21 years old that established Holmes as a national poet. To read a collection of the poetry on the topic of figures in American history is like reading a textbook composed in verse. Holmes is hardly alone in writing a poem praising the Emancipation Proclamation but how many have composed verse about mathematician Benjamin Pierce? The Great Central Fair in Philadelphia of 1864 held to raise funds for the United States Sanitary Commission is deemed to be just as deserving of commemoration in verse as The Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington.
The Small Stuff
Another criticism leveled at Holmes which just so happens to also be one of those elements which made his poetry so popular was a focus on subjects judged by many to be trivial. Rather than expounding upon broad, abstract themes, Holmes often revealed a great talent for making the mundane worthy of his poetic attention. He gets surprising robust mileage out of more than 100 lines devoted to the subject of the planned butchering of a beloved pig. A poem about katydids requires six six-line stanzas. For the poet in Holmes, a toadstool is deserving of just as much attention and technical precision as a reflection on the anniversary of George Washington’s birthday. All is worthy of poetic reflection.
