Poe's Quarrel with Boston Writers

Thomas H. Chivers to Edgar Allan Poe
Autographed Letter
August 27, 1840
[Full text]

Responding positively to Poe's request for support in starting a literary magazine, Georgia poet Thomas Chivers (1809-1858) both praises Poe's abilities and cautions him against treating other authors too roughly:

In the Paradise of Literature, I do not know one better calculated than yourself to prune the young scions of their exuberant thoughts. In some instances, let me remark, you seemed to me to lay aside the pruning-knife for the tomahawk, and not only to lop off the redundant limbs, but absolutely to eradicate the entire tree. In such cases there is no hope of its afterwards bearing any fruit.

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