The words of Genius
bear a wider meaning than the thought which prompted them." But at any
rate there is no mistaking the general outline of his thought, for his
outlook upon life is as distinctive as Browning's, and indeed possesses
many points of similarity. But in speaking of Whitman's message one
thing must be borne in mind. Whitman's work must not be adjudged merely
as a special blend of Altruism and Individualism. No man ever works, it
has been well said {199}--not even if philanthropy be his trade--from the
primary impulse to help or console other people, any more than his body
performs its functions for the sake of other people. And what Professor
Nettleship says of Browning might be applied with equal truth to Whitman.
His work consists "not in his being a teacher, or even wanting to be one,
but in his doing exactly the work he liked best and could not help
doing." And Whitman's stimulating thought is not the less true for that,
for it is the spontaneous expression of his personality, just as fully as
a melody or picture is an expression of an artist's personality. He
could no more help being a teacher than he could help breathing. And his
teaching must be valued not in accordance with the philosophy of the
schools, not by comparison with the ethics of the professional moralist,
but as the natural and inevitable outcome of his personality and
temperament.

As a panacea for social evils Whitman believes in the remedial power of
comradeship in a large-hearted charity.

"You felons on trial in courts,
You convicts in prison cells, you sentenced assassins chained and
handcuffed with iron,
Who am I, too, that I am not on trial or in prison?
Me ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chained
With iron, or my ankles with iron?"

Mark the watchful impassiveness with which he gazes at the ugly side of
life.

"I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
oppression and shame;
I hear convulsive sobs from young men at anguish with themselves,
remorseful after deeds done;

* * * * *

I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny;
I see martyrs and prisoners--
I observe a famine at sea--I observe the sailors casting lots who
shall be killed, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
labourers, the poor, and upon