It will benefit
all writers, present and prospective, to read this criticism on Bryant:--
"He is almost the one of your poets that knows
How much grace, strength, and dignity lie in Repose;
If he sometimes fall short, he is too wise to mar
His thought's modest fulness by going too far;
'Twould be well if your authors should all make a trial
Of what virtue there is in severe self-denial,
And measure their writings by Hesiod's staff,
Who teaches that all has less value than half."
Especially humorous are those lines which give a recipe for the making of a
Washington Irving and those which describe the idealistic philosophy of
Emerson:--
"In whose mind all creation is duly respected
As parts of himself--just a little projected."
Prose.--Lowell's literary essays entitle him to rank as a great American
critic. The chief of these are to be found gathered in three volumes:
_Among My Books_ (1870), _My Study Windows_ (1871), _Among My Books_,
_Second Series_ (1876). These volumes as originally issued contain 1140
pages. If we should wish to persuade a group of moderately intelligent
persons to read less fiction and more solid literature, it is doubtful if
we could accomplish our purpose more easily than by inducing them to dip
into some of these essays.
Pages:
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320