New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-09

ating but mystifyng influence of Emerson various
men began the experiment OF lifting themselves
into the air by their boot-straps. from Ennei
son himself the oracular utterance came WIN
good grace, He generally meant something anu no
frequently made himself understood fronn "oso
of his disciples il sounded like what II really was
the whistlng Of the wind through oung,noio,
They were afflicted, in fact, with kihd Oh coio VI
egotism; hut the nature Of their disease was HUI
Immediately understood. Tho oVer-soui "P
nearcd 70 prev upon their minds and many OF them
discovered that they had stomachs and other usefu
organs of divine character. suitable for commence
ration in song One of them detected his own arm
pits ETC. and published some spawned hexameters
on the subject OF his physical condition. which nave
since attracted the appreciatve attention OF the
Attorney General of Massachusetts-a gentleman
who appears to like his poetry without fecuencc'
and who, accordingly. must expect that Dis
scalp will henceforth he sought by all the blather-
skite rhapsodists and literary cranks in the land
The rougher spirits among these deluded people
were remarkable-and have been all along-for one
popularity the desire to degrade and destroy
nearly all existing regulations in literature. puny
and trivial They could not build themselves up
without pulling everybody else down. Their writ
ings were either nonsense, nastiness or respectable
platitude few of them, like Mr.. Acott, were
talked Hindoo philosophy, mostly obtained out OF
the "Bhagvat Geeta" and wrote inspid verses
about buck leberries II the school had produced
nothing worse than these amiabe sonnets by MT
Alcott il would scarcely have attracted attention.
But, though mOrbund now, If not actually deiunct'
it vitated literature for some time. Inc lncN-
table revulsion has since arrived and authors ike
Longfellow Bryant Irving and Cooper are, as they
ought to be. the dominant forces in American
thought and taste Mr. Alcott's poems contain
nothing of any consequence. The lines are color
less often vague, and mostly prosaic, and they at
ford neither beauty of imagery nor felicity ot dc
ton. The street form of the sonnet has not been al
tempted The best things in the book some OF
the notices, of which there are ffty-two, quoted
from other writer's There Is better verse by Mr..
Alcott than the following, and this has often been
excelled by Or. Watts
90 DEATH thou interest deeper speech
A tenderer truer tone
Than all our languages can reach,
Though all were voiced IN one.
Thy glance is deep and far beyond
All that our eyes DO see,
Assures to faIrest hopes and fond
Their immortality"
The sagacious opinion of Mr.. Sanborn is, as pro-
claimed in his essay, that 1.-The sonnet in large
quantities always produces WEAKNESS" Even so.
But o single specimen of Mr.. Acotts octogenaran
manufacture will not come amss in this place.
Hierophant, and Wrist of the soul
Clear insight thine of universal mind;
While from its crypts the nascent Powers unrol,
Aud represent To consciousness the Whole.
Each in its order seeks it's natural kind,
| These latent or apparent, stir or sleep,
Watchfu DER widening fields of airy space,
| Or sluTnbering sightless in the briny deep
| Thou. far above their shows, servant OF Grace
Thread'st the bright way from Spirit down to
Sense
| Interpreting all symbols to thy race
| Commanding vistas of the fair Immense,
| And glimpses upward far. where, sons OF Heaven
| Sit in Pantheon throned the Sacred Seven