Prof. Manley, in the _Cambridge History of English
Literature_, advances the theory that _The Vision_ is not the work of
one, but of several writers, W.L. being therefore a dramatic, not a
personal name. It is supported on such grounds as differences in metre,
diction, sentence structure, and the diversity of view on social and
ecclesiastic matters expressed in different parts of the poem.
LANIER, SIDNEY (1842-1881).--Miscellaneous writer, _s._ of a lawyer of
Huguenot descent, was _b._ at Macon, Georgia. He had a varied career,
having been successively soldier, shopman, teacher, lawyer, musician, and
prof. His first literary venture was a novel, _Tiger Lilies_ (1867).
Thereafter he wrote mainly on literature, his works including _The
Science of English Verse_ (1881), _The English Novel_ (1883), and
_Shakespeare and his Forerunners_ (1902); also some poems which have been
greatly admired, including "Corn," "The Marshes of Glynn," and "The Song
of the Chattahoochee"; ed. of Froissart, and the Welsh _Mabinogion_ for
children. He worked under the shadow of serious lung trouble, which
eventually brought about his death.
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