73 



Emerson in avoiding it rushes into the other extreme. It 

 is an inspiration from temperament as Hunt's was. Fra 

 Angelico was very limited, but he was divine. This 

 golden thread of passion makes Parson's verse distinctive, 

 and gives him grace a quality we have not had. Re- 

 ligious poetry is usually valueless as literature. The 

 didactic is not an inspiration in art. There are two or 

 three notes of earnest poetry in New England by women. 

 It is natural the genius of New England should take that 

 turn, and that it should be through women. After fifty 

 years who has grown ? Shelley, because he lends you his- 

 soul to see with, and his art was equal. As the soul writes 

 through Very, nature wrote through Shelley. If it is the 

 west wind he writes about, the west wind writes it. If 

 Very describes the columbtne, its slender grace and trem- 

 ulous nature are in the verse. He seems to me to be worth 

 bushels of American poetry. When I was entering the 

 bay and Dean Stanley was aboard, I pointed out Salem 

 to him and told him I would give him the volume, now 

 out of print, of his early poems ; so I did when I got back 

 to England. Mr. Very himself gave me the book with 

 his name in it. Two days after we landed, Mr. Very 

 was present at the hall. I crowded into the gallery at 

 the last moment, and could see him on the floor of the 

 house. I noticed his very intellectual head. There was 

 no such head in the audience. So high and such fine 

 lines. His things must grow. He is a quiet genius but 

 unique, the least indebted, the most underived. Ameri- 

 can poetry is a dreary second-rate, it has struck out no 

 new note. But such poetry, the pure effluence of the 

 spirit, never can be popular, or even comprehended or 

 felt by the many. I think of Daniels' lines quoted by 



Coleridge : 



; Unless, above himself, erect himself he can, 

 How poor a thing is man !" 



