New-York tribune., 1882-04-28

voice but that of the soul yes, and III that, the
! Over Soul. All Is in distance. vast perspective
lined with majestic figures of men and women US
| they would be il they but knew their own worth
and at the end lofty tempe consccrated to the
| IL )ral sentiments.
| In reading English Traits cannot dveSt my
self of the feeling that | am reading of people
much further off than England, and IN no way
related to our time or country; they seem as dis-
| tant. and in truth. as dead, rs Greeks or Romans
| with such cool remote and contempatlvo pench
does he paint them Il it his imagination That pro-
duees this effect or that he things never before
| disclosed and thus the illusion of distance ana ui-
familiarity But we all, in the'days OF our youtn'
saw every ything-as as Mr.. Emerson had seen IL
| for us. Our experience was precisely Similar W
his own with Montaigne He says in one OF the 10"
revelations of his own intellectual history that wnen
he FIRST read Montaigne he felt as If he had written
| the book So we felt when wo read Emerson ana
| we had precedent which we much relied upon ana
| often quoted. Long afterward / heard a religious
enthusiast sav that if some one had not written the
New Testament he should and | understood him'
though he was laughed at and called crazy. Often
MS this feeling happens TO the sympathetic reader IN
| later life nothing can outwear the memory OF the
| first youthful experience of it. and very dear 10
| memory is the volume and yenerated the writer at
| whose fires we have lighted our own little torch.
! There was in all this the usual amount OF sei-de-
| ception and illusion. Emerson shot many an ar
row beyond our ken (; some OF which, perhaps' IL
may require several ages to come up with; but we
| behed the superb flight. and thought we could see
| the mark for youth is both confident and credi-
| lous This faith kept and still keeps some OF us
steady in our allegiance to the Emersonlan in-
| sights Having had such good luck in hndlng an
Interpretation for some of aspirations we ex-
/ III. ii -. a hn-
! Iieved in all of Emerson's discoveries If you WILL
| in his obscurities. We thought with Gautier that
Genius is always right; whatever it invents ex-
| istsv We listened to all he said with certain
haunting expectation seldom disappointed; ana IL
| must be confessed for time we narrowed our
| world by having no ear for anyone else 90 that
we appreciated heartily the witticism OF gentle
man who arriving just too late to hear Emerson ;
| famous Phi Beta Kappa Grafton at Cambridge, Al
| 1887 remarked that it was better to miss Emerson
| than to hear anybody else!
| Emerson has been liberal education to large
| number of men and women for nearly two genera
| tions One can only conjecture whether young
| men and women to-day are reading him with the
entl usiasm of those who read thirty years ago, anu
under certain ban which made it all the more in
| toxicatng. For some time past Emerson has Deen
IN fashion. 1t is doubtful whether author who
|
| one who has gained the concentrated and almost
| passionate devotion of few readers. An, the
critics will saw this is the cOncct Of the obscure
and unrecognised. But say for their comfort and
| enlightenment that this very narrow but ardent
| following is the cause Of the enlargement OF the
! circle and is the slow but triumphant progress to
an immortality of fame 1t is certainly true That
| Emerson was once considered dangerous reading,
| that we who followed him suffered under contempt
| from some, under rcproach and under suspicion
| from nearly all, anG that we are now Justhed ara
compensated We now belong in the majority, hut
if has come over to us and how can we help little
feeling of pride and victoryP The honOrs that have
! been paid to Darwin and will be to Emerson show
the wonderful growth, or at least change, Oh opll-
have said that readers of poetry were especially
| prepared for welcoming EInerson's writings, the
| earliest Of which were in prose. Poetry emanci-
! pates young men from their natnra inward and
| outward limitations; II opens TO them an IDEAL
| world and attaches them TO truth and beauty.
But more than all it quickens the latent intelec-
ual lie hy putting into choice phrase and melodl-
| ous sOnnd much which they imagine themselves to
| have ielt, thought aud already lived through. IL
| certies aud establishes relation DeIweeh thelI
own iucpient and That OF the matlred
| mind and lays the foundations OF culture NOW,
Emerson'e prose is much like poetry, wants bnt the
| wide margins aud capital letters III mas all the
surnrises of good verse ii is ryhncal eplsodlcal,
sometimes austere, sometimes homely or grlce1ul.
aud nearly always suggestive. lie ls tnlhEing over
|
| hottering address. He seems to whisper, i
/ arn merely the organ the idea is yours" The
temp alton then was great, among youhS nle, 10 Wy
! To ind expression for themselves; II turned out to
be merely repetition Tor the present; not only the
| thought but the language, was unappToachaDle.
The Trademark could not he erased ana another
| substituted However, Mr. Lowell has suiiiceDtly
satirIzed the imtatOrs OF Emerson lt Is curious 10
| remember now that Emerson himself was strongly
arranrd for an initiative style and even for borrow
| mo ms ideas But who has not been I Plato was.
| The greatest genius is the most indebted man"
An aDtitude for assimilation Is one form of genius
often mistaken fornlitaton and plagiarism by those
! who FORGET that there Is, and can be, no more
material than there ever was, and that art alone
The bust ouass the throne,
| The coin, TiDcrius
Tmcrsou's poetry was more difficult to initiate than
hts nrose YET they are essentially allke III tone
| and thought that whoever likes one viii be apt to
like the other. 1t Il safe to say, think. that nearly
! all the young men VINO admired MS writing lhem-
selves either wrote or soon began to write poetry.
| Here n man finds his true level; he may be equal TO
| reading and completest appreciation, but when he
attempt, to produce he finds himself truly empty.
! lie discovers tnat it no more resembles the self
| which seemed TO be actively present when he was
reading work of the creative IMAGINATION than let
ters formed with his left hand resemble his most
careless right-handed autograph, Tins also was a
| discipline to winch we were much indebted 10 Elmer
| SON. Many paths must be tried that many may be
| Abandoned. some of the Emcrsonian disciples have
| Struggled on with the Muse and have added to the
| music of the world most became silent when they
| entered into active lfe.
| There has never been made thorough study Of
| Emerson poetry. People do not read it 50 much
or SO seriously his prose A few are ardent lovers
| of it among them Professor Iyndail. IL rarely
touches the common elements OF the poetic domain
It has little warmth, no sensuousness, no passion !;
but does have WISDOM reflection, beautiful percep
| tlons clear cha>te ana often perfect expression,
stanZas and Ines that cling III the memory with the
| sweetest aud best. Ills poems repeat great deal
| which Is III the essays IN another form. tmersons
taste for the poetry of other poets just trile
| peculiar; he loved ali tnat we all love- and little
| pe,lde / believe he was fond OF some books Of
poetry for other things tuan their poetry lie gave
| called Itself yerse. THIS, indeed, his nobest
| intellectual trat his wonderful, many-sded recog
niIon of the work OF Others, and his open, liberal