The New York herald., 1922-06-18
By AMELIA v. ENDE.


writer's gradual conquest of a
public, at first limited TO a small
group Of admirers in his own coun-
try, eventually extending over the
whole globe. Leon Bazalgette, in the
admirable work which was written
before the war but only now pub
Hshed, calls attention to what sounds
like prophecy and offers curious
coincidence in those lines of Whit
man:
This moment yearning and thoughtful
sitting alone,
1t seems to me there are other men in
other lands. yearning and
thoughtful,
1t seems to me can look over and be-
hold them in Germany, Italy.
France. Spain.
For the countries he mentioned re-
sponded chronologically in that very
order to the song of Whitman.
Through William M. Rossetti's edi-
ton Freiligrath, then an exile in
London. became acquainted with
Whitman's work and acclaimed him
in an article published in 1868. His
translations from Leaves of Grass"
were probably the first in any for
eign tongue. Freiligrath was also
the translator of Victor Hugos verse,
in which Bazalgette. despite the ex-
uberant rhetoric, finds much resem-
blance with Whitman. Perhaps it
was the affection which Whitman
had for France (See France in the
Eighteenth Year of These States"
and 20 Star of France, 1S70-71')
that led two young American Whit
man enthusiasts, Francis Viele-Grif-
fin and Stuart Merrill, to Paris.
where they became his champions
and eventually French poets. Nj.
Bazalgette does not dwell much upon
his country's share in recognizing
Whitman's genius. Yet, though il
may be still confined to relatively
small groups. it is manifest in many
quotations from Whitman occurring
in contemporary French writer's,
among them Ellie Faure and Rober:
d'Humieres
But of all the appreciators that
Whitman found in foreign countries.
Leon Bazalgette is the best equipped
to be his protagonist. His erudition
in many fields suggests unusual
training; if it was academic he
makes little of it. for ne is of those
that care not for official documenta-
ton. His writings cover a variety
OF subjects. But there is no doubt
that his studies of Constable, Camille
Lemonnier, Emile Verhaeren and
others have been overshadowed by
the volumes devoted to Whitman.
He is the author of a life: walt
Whitman. lHomme ct rGuvre," of
translation of the Leaves of
Grass" C'F'euilles d'Herbe") and his
latest book will no doubt some time
be followed by translation of the
prose works.
M. Bazalgette makes it clear from
the beginning that to understand
Walt Whitman one must leave be-
hind all foregone conclusions of ira
dition and convention and approach
him with an ingenuously open mind,
a simple trust in things as they are.
He finds the artist and the apostle
bearing a message so perfectly
blended in Whitman that it would
be impossible to separate them. He
devotes much space to an inquiry
into the form chosen by Whitman,
and makes it plain that it was neither
ignorance nor scorn of the existing
lyrical forms that made Whitman
discard them. He emphasizes Whit
mans reverence for the really great
poets of the past and his particular
love of Scott's ballads. He summa-
rizes the attitude of the public toward
the Leaves of Grass" in the remark,
that they were considered no more
poetry than a little later the work
of Wagner was admitted to be music
or that Of Cezanne to be painting.
That "the line of Whitman is in
reality neither verse nor prose, but
lyric form quite apart and entirely
personal and dangerous to initiate" is
statement to which readers familiar