New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-17

MORE TALK ABOUT HIS LIFE AND
WORKS
WALT WHITMAN THE MAN. BY Thomas Don
nldson. Illustrations and Facsimiles. Octave
PIP rs Francis i. Harper.

WALT WHITMAN TIE MAN BY Thomas Don Don
PIP. 21S. Francis II. Harper
WHITMAN A Study. BY John Burroughs. Oc-
tavo. PIP. "5s. IIoughton Aflfflin & co.
These books are more amusing than they in
tend to be- The loyalty Of the authors commands
respect but there is something slightly grotesque
and comical in the complacency with which they
discourse of their hero. II Is true that he had n
hint Of inspiration in him He had a streak of
spiritual vigor which not wholly without
the refining force of poetic feeling Never;he-
less. ii is impossible to regard him. as he has so
often been regarded. prophet for youth
and a rock Of refuge for men. Mr. Donaldson
comes out strong on the subject of whitman
friends. He points to Tennyson, the Rossettis.
John Arlington Symonds and many others Of
literary cmnencn. II thesc writer's admired
him, argues our author. there must have been
something in him. No doubt. But there never
was anything in this world so specious and 50
hollow as the idea that man is necessarily
great because Of mind admired him. Mr..
burroughs recalls the anecdotc of Emerson.
who on the appearance Of Leaves Of Grass" OBJ
served to Mr.. Conway: americans abroad may
now come home unto us man is born" The
picture is taking but it serves poorly for the base
of tradition.
The Whitman tradition seems 10 he founded
purely on his reaction against weakness and the
ways Of the dilettante He rose up and said:
LET us be strong" His philosophy. II it may be
called a philosophy at ALL is in line with that
Of Emerson himself. Of Carlyle OF Browning
1t Is expressed in almost savagely direct terms.
and it is not surprising therefore. that 1t has
helped men times 1t helped Symonds. 1t
helped Rober. Louis Stevenson They rcjoced
statements which come like the crashing OF
stones through the iridescent glass Of Platonic
and other philosophical houses. Any student Of
the psychology Of Stevenson Symonds in their
letters and other biographical fragments knows
that both men carried in;rospection to a fright
fully morbid stage Naturally they were CRATE
full to the force, however rude, which lifted them
up from their vapors into the clear air of manly
thinking and doing. Symonds wrote a book
about Whitman which is a beautiful example Of
frankness and fervor I'm the acknowledgment OF
debt But may believe that Whitman hap
pened here and there to nvgorate a troubled
and depressed temperament without taking him
a proved teacher. a certified poet The au-
thor Of Leaves Of Grass IVES neither OF these
things His teaching is incoherent for the most
part being sound and useful only in flashes
His poetry is not poetry al ALL and only limps
into the court Of the Muses. suferance on the
representations Of his friends. Those tell us
that he is a master OF language. Mr.. Burroughs
quotes Mr. Symonds the latter talking In his
ford way about the countless clear and per-
feet phrases In Whitman. (Which are hung
like golden medals OF consummate workmanship
and inclsed form. in rich clusters over every
poem he produced" This may have been true
for Symonds. We wonder how widely II is be-
lievod among readers to-day, and how much
longer ii viii be fostered among writer's like Mr.
Burroughs?
IL II were not that so many Of the eulogies OF
Whitman were written obviously In good faith
We should he inclined 10 view them as parts Of a
gigantic conspiracy In favor OF his erection into
a great poetical reputation which only needed
tn" onslaught ~ a critic qualified to do for the
American what Macaulay did for Montgomery to
settle the question once for all What. for OK
ample. does Symonds mean when he lauds those
rich clusters" Of Wh.tman's phrases, Refer
,.'e To the works Of the writer affords no con-
hrmation Of this heb-hown Judgment. To he
sure. there Is always the assumption To fall
back upon that maa'tnu H. divided into two
classes. Wnimauites and fools. but even The