New-York tribune., 1876-04-22
INTELLECTUAL CONVEXITY.

There Is no more curious psycHoioSicdi SIuuJ
than that which is so often furnished by the
ardent disciple. Suppose, for instance, the
accepted master should say: 81 celebrate
myself" the former instantly responds: -
"also celebrate myself, in celebrating thee J"
In the same proportion as the one magnlhes
his Office, the other hastens to magnify his;
and speedily, by "A process familiar to phys
iOlogists there eDsues a chronic cOnvexity OF
the intellectual vision. All that relates to the
master expands into colossal proportions In
the atmosphere of his cloudy greatness. A
cranberry from bis hand becomes huge
Hesperidian apple; he smiles, and there Is
morning in the world; he speaks and nothing
less than o continent exhausts the reverbera-
tions of his voice. In like manner, the least
doubt of his lOrdship swells into malignant
opposition tho very silence OF other authors
Is nothing but shameful jealousy or the eyl-
dencc Of conspiracy calm and impartial Judg-
ment has no place IN the world. Turning his
convex vision within, the disciple sees and
marycls at his own vast capacity of recOgn-
ton. What he may have originated, no less
than what he has received, under ,oes an IN
definite expansion. AS cambric- needle be-
comes rough spike under the lenses, so his
own limited conceptions of form grow into
something great and shapeless, his little
nodules of thought into rocks fit for the
Titans to throw
Criticism is of course simply impossible where
such a condition exists. Mr. John Burroughs,
in his letter which we published on the 18th
inst, is personally aggrieved' because our
estimate of Mr.. Walt Whitman's genius does
not correspond with his own. And now MIR.
w. ID. OConnor, in the screed winch appears
IN our columns to-day, turns his eyes, fresh
from a contemplation Of "the lnfniverse,"
upon the reflected forms of Mr. Buchanans
abuse and alteration, as they exist in his own
mind, and no BrOcken Specter ever equaled
them in misty outlines. Both these gentlemen
sufficiently illustrate their dependence upon
that English criticism, the phenomena of which,
as we have recently explained, spring partly
from ignorance of all diStinctively American
material and partly from q strong craving for
new and piquaut literary sensations. 1t will
be curious 10 note whether the reaction
which has already commenced there will
also find its echo in the same class
here. Meanwhile, Whitnan's American disci-
pies strive 10 surpass their English brethren
in the attempt to cXalt Chaos into literary
ideal. Mr. Burrouchs, whose magazine arti-
ces, apparently in spite of himself, have
definite and harmonious form, and are hence
readable, utters this astonishing cry " Are
we never to get beyond the point where the
demand is for something elegant and schol-
Z" arly and where the analogue in art of the
"po,ccr and iltormaiity Of Nature is more ac-
ceptable THAI any studied form and elabora-
"tion3r And Mr. 0'COnnOr-but no quota
.ion will do justice to his ininiversive"
euloSium of the "copious and Unequal pour
"rngp of Whtman's verse "1he analogue
III Art of the power and informallty of
Naturel" Sculpture represented by huge
mass of clay, with scattered attempts at
shaping fingers or noses Architecture turn
ing her back on the finished temple. and
proudly pointing to her unhewn blocks
Music setting gigantic wInd-harps (untuned)
in her halls, and squelching Beethoven
Pages of catalogued objects silencins the per-
feet pentameter3 of Milton!
We cannot undertake to argue further with
this convexity we strive to cultivate normal
human vision. This, however, we must re-
peat-that the charge of q "cabal" among any
portion of the authors of America, TO perse-
cute and suppress Walt Whitman, or anybody
else, is an absurdity and an importinence.
Other writer's have their contributions returned
by magazine editors, and do not whine about
il. Hawthorne was ignored during his best
years. Emerson abused and ridiculed, and
their friends never dreamed of imagining a
conspiracy against them. No man in this coun-
try has ever been so constantly and skillfuly
advertised by his disciples as Walt Whitman.
They have not only been slecplessly watchful
for attack, but they have resented Indifference.
They deny, for his sake, the right Of a critic
to be honest, the right of an editor to select,
and the right of publisher to refuse. Not
patient for the final and irreversible decision
of time, they angry claim the immediate ac-
ceptance of q theory of Formlessness i'll litera-
ture which would send the worlds great au-
thors to the shades. If their masters new
venture should fail they will be chiefly to
blame. He has wisely held himself aloof from
their aggressive championship; and we heartily
commend the silence and apparent indifference
of 1.-THE good gray poet" to the imitation of
his good green friends.
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