The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
VOLUME XVI. Early National Literature, Part II; Later National Literature, Part I.
§ 10. Tales of a Wayside Inn
True, he added considerably to the mass of his narrative poetry by the three series of Tales of a Wayside Inn, the first of which appeared under its own name in 1863, the second and third of which were included respectively in Three Books of Song (1872—along with Judas Maccabaeus), and in Aftermath (1874), but save for the spirited Paul Revere’s Ride and the Saga of King Olaf, of the first series, these tales in verse have made only a mild impression. This is about all that may justly be said with regard to the twelve poems collected in Flower-de-luce (1867); it is more than should be said of The New England Tragedies, the third part of Christus, consisting of John Endicott and Giles Cory of the Salem Farms. These, with the first part of the ambitious trilogy, The Divine Tragedy (1871), constitute what may best be ambiguously denominated “efforts.”