He reaps great advantage from his
want of sympathy. The world makes no inroads upon him through this
channel. He is not distracted by the throng or maybe the mob of
emotions that find entrance here. He shines like a star undimmed by
current events. He speaks as from out the interstellar spaces. 'T
is vulgar sympathy makes mortals of us all, and I think Emerson's
poetry finally lacks just that human coloring and tone, that flesh
tint of the heart, which vulgar sympathy with human life as such
imparts.
But after we have made all possible deductions from Emerson, there
remains the fact that he is a living force, and, tried by home
standards, a master. Wherein does the secret of his power lie? He
is the prophet and philosopher of young men. The old man and the
man of the world make little of him, but of the youth who is ripe
for him he takes almost an unfair advantage. One secret of his
charm I take to be the instant success with which he transfers our
interest in the romantic, the chivalrous, the heroic, to the sphere
of morals and the intellect. We are let into another realm unlooked
for, where daring and imagination also lead. The secret and
suppressed heart finds a champion. To the young man fed upon the
penny precepts and staple Johnsonianism of English literature, and
upon what is generally doled out in the schools and colleges, it is
a surprise; it is a revelation. A new world opens before him. The
nebulae of his spirit are resolved or shown to be irresolvable.
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