Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-08-14
POET wHITTlERTALKs

He Tells Of Hls Early struggies ana
How he Became g Poet.
II was unlike any Of The rest, i
think" said Mr.. Whittier to a visitor.
"for I never had any methods. When
/ felt likeit I wrote, and / neither had
the health nor the patience to work
over it afterward. II usually went as
1t was originally completed. Emerson
wrote with great care, and would not
only revise his manuscript carefully,
but / have often heard him say that be
would frequently rewFite the article
upon the proofSheets. Longfel-
low, too, was a very careful
writer. He wrote and re-wrote and
would lay his work BY and then re.
wise It. He often would consult with
his friends about his productions be-
fore they were given to the world.
He therefore sent bis work out as per-
feet as great carr and a brilliant inter-
est could make It. / was not
so fortunate. / have lived mostly a
secluded life, with little patience to
draw upon and only a few friends for
associates. What writing / have
done has been for the love Of it. /
have ever been timid Of what ! have
penned. It is really a marvel to me
that / have gathered any literary rep
utation from my productions.
much that l have written / wish
was as deep in The Red Sea Al Pha-
raoh's chariot wheels. Much Of the
bread cast on the waters ! wish had
never been returned. It is not fair to
revive writings composed In the
shadow of conditions that make even
acceptable work with good opportuni-
ties. Limited chances of education
and lack Of books always stood in my
way. When / began to write / had
seen nothing and virtually knew moth
ing Of the world. OF course, things
written then could not have been
worth much.
"In my fathers house there was not
a dozen books, and they were OF a
severe type. The only one that APP
preached poetry was a rhymed history
Of David, written by a contemporary
Of George Fox, the Quaker. There
was one poor novel in the family. 1t
belonged to an aunt. This / secured
one day; when ! had read it half
through / was discovered, and It was
taken from me.
my first glimpse Of poetry was when
my old school master brought a copy
Of Burns's poems and read from it at
our house. My first real work was
done when George ID. Prentice was
editing the Hartford Review, although
l had written considerably before. /
wrote and sent him a few things, and
he encouraged me. When he recon-
mended me to take his place the pub
fishers wrote me and | went down. /
had then seen practically nothing Of
the world, and for the two years | re-
manned with the Review my greatest
effort was to keep people from know
ing how little | really knew.
II wrote continually, but there was
no market for the work. My anti
slavery convictions made my name
valueless to any Of the magazines but,
strange as it may appear. the Demo-
cratic Review wa always anxious for
my writings"
"Was there no market at all? No
price set upon your work?
None. | just wrote for any paper
that would publish my matter, and if
Longfellow, Emerson, Hawthorne or
myself had been forced to rely upon
the products of our pens for our living.
we would have wanted bread in those
days when most Of Of our best work
was done. To me this is queer phase
of literary life, to find that the great
est geniuses that America has ever
given to literature should have toiled
without recompense, and been forced
to wait until they were old before
reaping the fruits of their labor.
Truly, it is hard work for a writer to
: get a toothold."