put down the thing as he meant it and let the meter limp along as best it could. For the idea was the inspiration, was it not? and the meter and rhyme were no more than the Understanding's method of decking out what the Reason had perceived in one of its great silences. They should not be abandoned, as Whitman abandoned them, because they were the conventional graces which established a community of feeling between the poet and the reader; but the moment that they asserted any claim of their own they became an offense and a hindrance. What Emerson does not seem to have laid to heart in this connection is that "Tasks in hours of insight willed May be through hours of gloom fulfilled." Perhaps he did not dare tamper with what the spirit had said to him; perhaps he was more eager to supply new messages than to polish and correct the old ones; perhaps he had that fear of mere art, of "rhetoric," which all men of deep sincerity have shared. When, as in the little poem called "The Snow Storm," the thought is merely pretty and poetic the art is fully adequate; and in proportion as the thought is high the expression is (in general) inadequate. If Emerson had chosen to work over his poems as Tennyson worked over his, he might, perhaps, have been as fine a poet as Tennyson; but those who, as Matthew Arnold puts it, "would live in the spirit" would have missed something infinitely more precious. BIBLIOGRAPHY All of the material given in the standard Riverside Edition of Emerson's works is included, together with additional matter, in the Centenary Edition, edited with introductions and notes by Edward Waldo Emerson. Both these editions, as well as the Journals, are published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. A later volume of "Uncollected Writings" was published by The Lamb Publishing Company (New York). Emerson's Correspondence with Carlyle, with Sterling, and with Grimm has also been published. Additional letters are given in Furness's "Records of a Lifelong Friendship." Besides these, there is Emerson's contribution to the Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. A full bibliography of Emerson by George Willis Cooke was published in 1908 (Houghton). The criticisms published since then may be found in the A. L. A. indices and publishers' catalogues, and it has seemed unnecessary to list them. With the exception of a few articles in some of the less known periodicals and newspapers, the writer has had access to all of these criticisms, and those which have seemed of especial value have in one way or another found mention in the text or footnotes. The Index of Names will therefore supply the place of a completer bibliography. A selected list of books and articles is given. Alcott, Amos Bronson: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Philosopher and Seer. Boston: Cupples, Hurd, 1888. Alexander, James Waddel: Review of Emerson's First Series of Essays in Princ. R. 13: 539. 1841. American Review: "Emerson and Transcendentalism," 1:233. 1845. Arnold, Matthew: Discourses in America. Macmillan, 1885. Bartol, Cyrus A.: Bowen, Francis: 1837. "Emerson's Religion" in Genius and Character of Review of Nature in Christian Examiner 21:371. Brann, Henry A.: "Hegel and his New England Echo" in Cath. W. 41:56. 1885. Cabot, James Elliot: A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Houghton, 1887. Chapman, John Jay: Emerson and Other Essays. New York: Scrib Conway, Moncure Daniel: Emerson at Home and Abroad. ners, 1898. Osgood, 1882. Boston: Cooke, George Willis: Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Life, Writings, and Philosophy. Houghton, 1882. Dewey, John: "The Philosopher of Democracy" in Internat. J. of Ethics, 13:405. Dugard, M.: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sa vie et son œuvre. Paris: Dutton, J. F.: "Emerson's Optimism" in Unitar. R. 35:127. 1891. Frothingham, Octavius Brooks: Transcendentalism in New England. Garnett, Richard: Life of Emerson. Great Writers Series. London: Scott, 1888. Genius and Character of Emerson, edited by Franklin B. Sanborn. Boston: Osgood, 1885. Contains notable essays by friends of Emerson in the Concord School of Philosophy. Goddard, Harold Clarke: Studies in New England Transcendentalism. Columbia University doctoral dissertation. New York, 1908. Guernsey, Alfred Hudson: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Philosopher and Poet. New York: Appletons, 1881. Harris, William T.: "The Dialectic Unity in Emerson's Prose" in J. of Spec. Phil. 18:195. 1884. "Emerson's Philosophy of Nature" in Genius and Character of Emerson. Haskins, David Greene: Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Maternal Ancestors, with some Reminiscences of him. Boston: Cupples, Upham, 1887. Hecker, Isaac T.: "Two Prophets of this Age" in Cath. W. 47:684. 1888. Hedge, Frederic Henry: Memorial address in J. H. Allen's Our Liberal Movement in Theology. Holmes, Oliver Wendell: Ralph Waldo Emerson. American Men of Letters Series. Boston: Houghton, 1885. Ireland, Alexander: Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Life, Genius, and Writings. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1882. James, William: Address on Emerson in Memories and Studies. Lee, Vernon: "Emerson, Transcendentalist and Utilitarian," in Contemp. R. 67:345. 1895. Literary World: Emerson Number, May 22, 1880, contains brief articles by Hedge, Bartol, Higginson, Walt Whitman, Curtis, Sanborn, Cooke, and others. Mead, Edwin D.: The Influence of Emerson. Boston: A. U. A., 1903. "Emerson's Ethics" in Genius and Character of Emerson. Milnes, Richard Monckton: "American Philosophy-Emerson's Works," in Westminster R. 33:345. 1840. Morley, John: Ralph Waldo Emerson: An Essay. Macmillan, 1884. Also in Critical Miscellanies. Nicoll, William R.: "Ralph Waldo Emerson" in North Amer. R. 176:675. 1903. O'Connor, J. F. X.: "Ralph Waldo Emerson" in Cath. W. 27:90. 1878. Orr, John: "Transcendentalism of New England" in Internat. R. 13:381. 1882. Parker, Theodore: Lecture on Transcendentalism, Works, Centenary Edition, vol. VI. Princeton R. 11:95 (1839) "Transcendentalism"; 13:539 (1841) "Pantheism." Rands, William B.: "Transcendentalism in England, New England, and India" in Contemp. R. 29:469. Riley, I. Woodbridge: American Thought. Holt, 1915. Ripley, George: "Philosophic Thought in Boston" in Memorial History of Boston. Osgood, 1880. Robertson, John M.: Modern Humanists. London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1891. Roz, Firmin: "L'Idéalisme américain: Ralph Waldo Emerson," in Revue des deux mondes, 70:651. 1902. Salter, William M.: "Emerson's Views of Society and Reform,” in Internat. J. of Ethics 13:414. 1903. Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin: The Personality of Emerson. Goodspeed, 1903. Boston: Santayana, George: Interpretations of Poetry and Religion. Scrib ners, 1900.. Social Circle in Concord. Riverside Press, 1903. Contains addresses by LeBaron Russell Briggs, Samuel Hoar, Charles Eliot Norton, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, William James, and others. Thayer, William Roscoe: The Influence of Emerson. Boston: Cupples, Upham, 1886. Tiffany, Francis: "Transcendentalism: the New England Renaissance," in Unitar. R. 31:111. Ward, Julius Hammond: "Emerson in New England Thought," in Andover R. 8:380. 1887. Wendell, Barrett: A Literary History of America. Scribners, 1901. Wilson, S. Law: The Theology of Modern Literature. Edinburgh: Clark, 1899. Woodberry, George Edward: Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Macmillan, 1907. English Men of Letters Series. Woodbury, Charles J.: Talks with Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Baker, Taylor. |