ointed. Whatever else it is, it is not literary.
Its art is its own, and the melody of it must be sought in other
suggestions than those of metre.... Those who are merely literary will
find little substance in the great drama of Democracy which is outlined
by Walt Whitman in his writings,--it is no distinction to call them poems.
But those who know nature at first hand--who know man, who see in this
Republic something more than a political government--will find therein the
thrill and glow of poetry and the essence of melody. Not the poetry that
culture stands in expectation of, nor the melody that capers in verse and
metre, but those rarer intimations and suggestions that are born in
primeval solitudes, or come whirling from the vast funnel of the storm."
How admirable! how true! No man has ever spoken more to the point upon
Walt Whitman.

The appearance of such a man as Whitman involves deep world-forces of race
and time. He is rooted in the very basic structure of his age. After what
I have already said, my reader will not be surprised when I tell him that
I look upon Whitman as the one mountain thus far in our literary
landscape. To me he changes the whole aspect, almost the very climate, of
our literature. He adds the much-needed ruggedness, breadth, audacity,
independence, and the elements of primal strength and health. We owe much
to Emerson. But Emerson was much more a _made_ man than was Whitman,--much
more the result of secondary forces, the college, the church, and of New
England social and literary culture. With all his fervid humanity and
deeply ingrained modernness, Whitman has the virtues of the primal and the
savage. "Leaves of Grass" has not the charm, or the kind of charm, of the
more highly wrought artistic works, but it has the incentive of nature and
the charm of real things. We shall not go to it to be soothed and lulled.
It will always remain among the difficult and heroic undertakings,
demanding our best moments, our best strength, our morning push and power.
Like voyaging or mountain-climbing, or facing any danger or hardship by
land or sea, it fosters manly endeavor and the great virtues of sanity and
self-reliance.

Transcriber's Notes:

Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.

Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate
both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as
presented in the original text.

The following misprint has