AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) Explaining What Makes a Good Poem

13 January 1868. Letter. Normal folds from mailing. About Fine, bold and dark. Two page letter on 5" x 8" THE EVENING POST stationery addressed to "Dear Madam" and SIGNED "W. C. Bryant." Bryant turns down a poem by a previous contributor, stating that it is “not equal by any means to those which I once received from you.” He has no time to criticize but does anyway, stating that “a poem in order to be good should be the most perfect expression of the thought. What would be faulty in prose, is faulty in verse." He states that the poem "is deficient. There is also a false rhyme in one stanza. When a poet undertakes to write in rhyme, he is held by the rules of criticism to his undertaking.”