' After all, the value of a poet to the world is not so
much his reputation as a writer of this or that poem, as the fact that
the poet is known to be one who is rapt out of himself at times, and
carried away into the region of the divine; it is known that the
spirit has descended upon him, and taught him what he should speak."
Holmes's admiration of Dickens's genius was very sincere. "He is the
greatest of all of them," he loved to say. "Such fertility, such
Shakespearean breadth,--there is enough of him; you feel as you do
when you see the ocean."
Speaking of the difficulty of being a good listener, he said that it
was a terrible responsibility for him to listen to a story. He could
never be rid of the feeling that he must remember accurately, or all
would be lost. There was one story in particular, told by a friend
remarkable as a raconteur, which tried him more than anything he knew
in the world,--of the kind. He felt like one of the old Greek chorus
with strophe and antistrophe, and it was a weight upon his mind lest
he should not laugh properly at the end. I recall one day, when the
subject of Walt Whitman's poetry was introduced, Dr. Holmes said he
abhorred playing the critic, partly because he was not a good reader,
--had read too cursorily and carelessly; but he thought the right
thing had not been said about Walt Whitman. "His books sell largely,
and there is a large audience of friends in Washington who praise and
listen.
Pages:
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124