Editing Atlantis (section)

=== Epic verse narratives ===

A few late-19th century verse narratives complement the [[Atlantis in popular culture#Fiction|genre fiction]] that was beginning to be written at the same period. Two of them report the disaster that overtook the continent as related by long-lived survivors. In [[Frederick Tennyson]]'s ''Atlantis'' (1888), an ancient Greek mariner sails west and discovers an inhabited island which is all that remains of the former kingdom. He learns of its end and views the shattered remnant of its former glory, from which a few had escaped to set up the Mediterranean civilisations.<ref>[[Frederick Tennyson|Tennyson, Frederick]]. ''Atlantis''. Via Black Cat Poems; [http://www.blackcatpoems.com/t/atlantis_part_i.html part 1] and [http://www.blackcatpoems.com/t/atlantis_part_ii.html part 2].</ref> In the second, ''Mona, Queen of Lost Atlantis: An Idyllic Re-embodiment of Long Forgotten History'' (Los Angeles CA 1925) by James Logue Dryden (1840–1925), the story is told in a series of visions. A Seer is taken to Mona's burial chamber in the ruins of Atlantis, where she revives and describes the catastrophe. There follows a survey of the lost civilisations of Hyperborea and Lemuria as well as Atlantis, accompanied by much spiritualist lore.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AZ3eIcpA4coC| title = Mona, Queen of Lost Atlantis| isbn = 978-0-7873-0298-6| last1 = Dryden| first1 = J. L.| date = December 1998| publisher = Health Research Books}}</ref>

William Walton Hoskins (1856–1919) admits to the readers of his ''Atlantis and other poems'' (Cleveland OH, 1881), that he is only 24. Its melodramatic plot concerns the poisoning of the descendant of god-born kings. The usurping poisoner is poisoned in his turn, following which the continent is swallowed in the waves.<ref>Hoskins, William Walton. [https://archive.org/details/atlantisotherpoe00hosk ''Atlantis, and other poems'']. Sherman & Co. 1881, pp. 7–127.</ref> Asian gods people the landscape of ''The Lost Island'' (Ottawa 1889) by Edward Taylor Fletcher (1816–97). An angel foresees impending catastrophe and that the people will be allowed to escape if their semi-divine rulers will sacrifice themselves.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://archive.org/stream/lostislandatlant00flet/lostislandatlant00flet_djvu.txt| title = The lost island (Atlantis)| year = 1895|author= Edward Taylor Fletcher|publisher=A. Bureau & Frères}}</ref> A final example, Edward N. Beecher's ''The Lost Atlantis or The Great Deluge of All'' (Cleveland OH, 1898) is just a doggerel vehicle for its author's opinions: that the continent was the location of the Garden of Eden; that Darwin's theory of evolution is correct, as are Donnelly's views.<ref>{{cite book| url = http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t5q81xg08;view=1up;seq=9| title = The lost Atlantis; or, "The great deluge of all." |author=Edward N. Beecher|via= Hathi Trust| year = 1897| publisher = The Brooks Company}}</ref>

Atlantis was to become a theme in Russia following the 1890s, taken up in unfinished poems by [[Valery Bryusov]] and [[Konstantin Balmont]], as well as in a drama by the schoolgirl [[Larissa Reissner|Larissa Reisner]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=M.A. thesis |first=Madeleine |last=Pichler |title=Atlantis als Motiv in der russischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts |publisher=Vienna University |year=2013 |url=https://othes.univie.ac.at/25256/1/2013-01-21_0401826.pdf#page=27 |pages=27–30 |url-status=live |archive-date=8 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508181855/https://othes.univie.ac.at/25256/1/2013-01-21_0401826.pdf }}</ref> One other long narrative poem was published in New York by George V. Golokhvastoff. His 250-page ''The Fall of Atlantis'' (1938) records how a high priest, distressed by the prevailing degeneracy of the ruling classes, seeks to create an androgynous being from royal twins as a means to overcome this polarity. When he is unable to control the forces unleashed by his occult ceremony, the continent is destroyed.<ref>Pichler, pp. 37–40.</ref>