BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOREAU. 25 



their heads, and new ones in.&quot; His own verses are 

 often rude and defective. The gold does not yet run 

 pure, is drossy and crude. The thyme and mar 

 joram are not yet honey. But if he want lyric fine 

 ness and technical merits, if he have not the poetic 

 temperament, he never lacks the causal thought, show 

 ing that his genius was better than his talent. He 

 knew the worth of the Imagination for the uplifting 

 and consolation of human life, and liked to throw 

 every thought into a symbol. The fact you tell is of 

 no value, but only the impression. For this reason 

 his presence was poetic, always piqued the curiosity 

 to know more deeply the secrets of his mind. He 

 had many reserves, an unwillingness to exhibit to pro 

 fane eyes what was still sacred in his own, and knew 

 well how to throw a poetic veil over his experience. 

 All readers of &quot; Walden &quot; will remember his myth 

 ical record of his disappointments : - 



&quot; I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle 

 dove, and am still on their trail. Many are the trav 

 ellers I have spoken concerning them, describing their 

 tracks, and what calls they answered to. I have met 

 one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp 

 of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind 

 a cloud ; and they seemed as anxious to recover them 

 as if they had lost them themselves.&quot; l 



His riddles were worth the reading, and I confide, 

 that, if at any time I do not understand the expression, 

 it is yet just. Such was the wealth of his truth that it 

 was not worth his while to use words in vain. His 

 poem entitled &quot; Sympathy &quot; reveals the tenderness 

 under that triple steel of stoicism, and the intellec 

 tual subtilty it could animate. His classic poem on 

 1 Walden, p. 20. 



