The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 22, August, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics

In Short

This volume serves as a time capsule of the August 1859 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. It is a curated collection of essays, fiction, and poetry that reflects the intellectual preoccupations of its time: the tension between religious faith and scientific analysis, the shifting political map of Europe, and the evolving American landscape. By presenting disparate voices—from the scientific observation of birds to the emotional depth of New England fiction—it captures the breadth of a culture wrestling with modernity, tradition, and the moral complexities of a rapidly changing, industrializing world.

The Story

The collection opens with an ambitious inquiry into the "dramatic element" of the Bible, positioning the sacred text against the artifice of the stage. This leads into a broader cultural meditation on the differences between the Jewish and Greek traditions, setting the stage for a recurring tension throughout the volume: the conflict between analytical, often cold, observation and the "longing soul" of human experience. This theme finds its most poignant expression in the New England tragedy, "The Ring Fetter." We meet Hitty, a woman trapped in an oppressive marriage to a man who views her as a mere possession. Bound by a vow she cannot break, Hitty endures her husband Abner’s moral decay in silence. Her internal agony reaches a breaking point when she finally asserts her agency. In a dramatic conclusion, she shatters her physical bonds, confronts her oppressor, and—clasping her hand high in a final gesture of defiance to heaven—leaps into the black waters of the Connecticut River, seeking release in the "silent stream" of the afterlife.

The narrative arc then shifts from the personal to the universal. A meditation on the fleeting nature of human existence, titled "The End of All," contemplates the inevitable decay of civilizations, suggesting that even the grandest monuments will eventually collapse into a handful of "human dust." This philosophical somberness is balanced by an observational turn toward the natural world. Detailed studies of nocturnal birds—the Bittern, the Whippoorwill, and the nocturnal Herons—ground the reader in the tangible realities of the American wilderness, before moving into a travelogue of a tropical locale in San Antonio. Here, the critique of a poorly managed establishment provides a humorous, albeit biting, look at the inconveniences of travel, contrasting the "Venuses" of the refreshing river-baths against the incompetence of the host.

Finally, the magazine turns its gaze outward to the global stage. It analyzes the shifting power dynamics of the Napoleonic wars and the internal rot of the Russian aristocracy as revealed in Catherine the Great’s memoirs. The volume concludes with a reflection on aging and mortality in "My Psalm," where the speaker, having looked back on a lifetime of strife, finds a peaceful resolution in the idea that "all the jarring notes of life / Seem blending in a psalm." The journey ends with a satirical look at a "Physiological Emporium," where phrenology is skewered as a pseudo-scientific vanity, grounding the reader once more in the humorous, messy reality of the living.

How It Unfolds

The sacred and the profane The volume begins by contrasting the Bible’s "prosaic plainness" with the "hollow pageant" of theatrical drama. This establishes a framework for evaluating how different cultures—specifically the Jewish and Greek—approached the divine and the artistic.

The weight of a vow The narrative shifts to the crushing reality of Hitty’s life, where a marriage vow becomes a literal shackle. The pacing slows to mirror the oppressive, "still, oppressive, and beautiful" atmosphere of the Connecticut River, leading to her inevitable, tragic escape.

Observing the night The focus expands to the ecological rhythms of the night, detailing how nocturnal birds and insects fill the silence with their singular, "hollow-sounding" cries. This section serves as a bridge between the intense human drama of the previous chapters and the broader, more detached political analyses that follow.

The analysis of power The editors turn to the international political landscape, scrutinizing the motives behind French intervention in Italy and the moral bankruptcy of the Russian court. These essays strip away the veneer of aristocracy and diplomacy to reveal the "hollow, glittering sham" underneath.

The final synthesis The collection closes by reconciling the preceding fragments through poetry and satire. "My Psalm" offers a meditative peace regarding the "jarring notes" of existence, while the final excursion to a phrenologist brings the reader back to the ground, mocking the human desire to quantify the soul.

The People

Hitty is the volume’s most resonant figure, a woman defined by her endurance and the "settled agony" in her eyes. Her desire for freedom is thwarted by her marriage, but she ultimately claims her own fate through a final, desperate act of defiance. Abner Dimock, her husband, stands in her way, representing a cold, possessive materialism. He views Hitty as little more than a tool, treating her with the same indifference he might show a piece of property. Mary, another key figure, contrasts with the analytical, often detached figures of the scientific and religious essays. She possesses a "blessed gift of womanhood" and an unanalyzed faith that resists the "chills of analysis" favored by the male thinkers in the collection. She represents the emotional warmth that the Doctor—a man who picks apart his own sacred emotions to check their "genera and species"—struggles to grasp. Finally, the "Professor" serves as our guide through the final beats of the magazine, a skeptical, hurried observer who finds both wonder and absurdity in the modern world, especially when confronting the ridiculous vanity of phrenological experts who seek to map the human mind with tape and measurements.

In Its Own Voice

"The drama is representation,—the Bible is fact; the drama is imitation,—the Bible narrative; the one is an embodiment,—the other a substance."

This sentence captures the volume’s opening argument regarding the distinct, non-theatrical nature of the sacred text.

"She could not leave him; she was utterly in his power; she was his,—like his boots, his gun, his dog; and till he should tire of her and fling her into some lonely chamber to waste and die, she was bound to serve him; he was safe."

This passage illuminates the dehumanizing reality of Hitty’s domestic life before her eventual tragic escape.

"The Doctor had practised his subtile mental analysis till his instruments were so fine-pointed and keen-edged that he scarce ever allowed a flower of sacred emotion to spring in his soul without picking it to pieces to see if its genera and species were correct."

This observation highlights the tension between natural feeling and the era's obsession with intellectual dissection.

What It's Really About

At its core, this volume grapples with the transition from the inherited certainties of religion and tradition to the analytical, skeptical spirit of the mid-nineteenth century. It asks whether human life is a coherent "psalm" or a collection of "jarring notes" waiting to be analyzed. The book is deeply concerned with the tension between the "longing soul" and the "optical instruments" of science. It questions whether we can truly know ourselves—or our God—through reason alone, or if such efforts, like the phrenologist’s tape, are merely attempts to quantify the unquantifiable. Ultimately, it is a meditation on the "covered way" of death and the necessity of finding beauty in a world that is, by nature, fleeting, broken, and ever-changing.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the slow, deliberate pace of nineteenth-century prose will find this volume deeply rewarding. It feels less like a modern magazine and more like a conversation with an incredibly well-read, slightly melancholic, and intellectually sharp companion. You will love it if you appreciate writing that takes the time to linger over the "golden-green reflections" of a river at twilight before pivoting to the harsh, cold realities of political corruption or domestic tragedy.

However, be prepared for the period’s specific attitudes. The prose is ornate and occasionally didactic, and the discussions of "national character" or "social virtues" reflect the historical biases of the 1850s. The text demands patience; it does not rush to its conclusions, and it expects you to be comfortable with ambiguity and emotional intensity. What stays with you, long after you have finished the final poem, is the juxtaposition of the vast, indifferent universe against the small, desperate, and beautiful struggles of the people who inhabit it. It is a work of high intelligence and genuine sorrow, offering a clear-eyed look at the "jarring notes" of existence while suggesting, with a quiet, hard-won grace, that they might just blend into a psalm after all.