Named Entity Results
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Carlyle's laugh and other surprises

se the mass of any literature. What is nature, he elsewhere says, unless there is a human life passing within it? Many joys and many sorrows are the lights and shadows in which she shines most beautiful. This is the real and human Thoreau, who often whimsically veiled himself, but was plainly enough seen by any careful observer. That he was abrupt and repressive to bores and pedants, that he grudged his time to them and frequently withdrew himself, was as true of him as of Wordsworth or Tennyson. If they were allowed their privacy, though in the heart of England, an American who never left his own broad continent might at least be allowed his privilege of stepping out of doors. The Concord school-children never quarreled with this habit, for he took them out of doors with him and taught them where the best whortleberries grew. His scholarship, like his observation of nature, was secondary to his function as poet and writer. Into both he carried the element of whim; but his ve

VII: Henry David Thoreau There has been in America no such instance of posthumous reputation as in the case of Thoreau. Poe and Whitman may be claimed as parallels, but not justly. Poe, even during his life, rode often on the very wave of success, until it subsided presently beneath him, always to rise again, had he but madPoe, even during his life, rode often on the very wave of success, until it subsided presently beneath him, always to rise again, had he but made it possible. Whitman gathered almost immediately a small but stanch band of followers, who have held by him with such vehemence and such flagrant imitation as to keep his name defiantly in evidence, while perhaps enhancing the antagonism of his critics. Thoreau could be egotistical enough, but was always high-minded; all was opexecution had found him far more awake to it than Lowell was,--this was only explainable by the lingering tradition of that savage period of criticism, initiated by Poe, in whose hands the thing became a tomahawk. As a matter of fact, the tomahawk had in this case its immediate effect; and the English editor and biographer of Thor

aps enhancing the antagonism of his critics. Thoreau could be egotistical enough, but was always hbesides two in England (by Page and Salt). Thoreau was born in Boston on July 12, 1817, but spenlace that Emerson speaks of it in one case as Thoreau's native town. Yet from that very familiariten I was endeavoring, about 1870, to persuade Thoreau's sister to let some one edit his journals, Iinary point. Why should any one wish to have Thoreau's journals printed? Ten years later, four su near to a permanent fame. It is true that Thoreau had Emerson as the editor of four of his postgland. It is to be remembered, however, that Thoreau was not wholly of English but partly of Frenchafts of profound scrutiny that often suggest Thoreau, had an extraordinary success at home, but fewas never even published. Lowell speaks of Thoreau as indolent ; but this is, as has been said, s most beautiful. This is the real and human Thoreau, who often whimsically veiled himself, but wa[10 more...]

VII: Henry David Thoreau There has been in America no such instance of posthumous reputation as in the case of Thoreau. Poe and Whitman may be claimed as parallels, but not justly. Poe, even during his life, rode often on the very wave of success, until it subsided presently beneath him, always to rise again, had he but made it possible. Whitman gathered almost immediately a small but stanch band of followers, who have held by him with such vehemence and such flagrant imitation as to kWhitman gathered almost immediately a small but stanch band of followers, who have held by him with such vehemence and such flagrant imitation as to keep his name defiantly in evidence, while perhaps enhancing the antagonism of his critics. Thoreau could be egotistical enough, but was always high-minded; all was open and above-board; one could as soon conceive of self-advertising by a deer in the woods or an otter of the brook. He had no organized clique of admirers, nor did he possess even what is called personal charm,--or at least only that piquant attraction which he himself found in wild apples. As a rule, he kept men at a distance,

or a time to repress the publication of his manuscripts. Yet this plain, shy, retired student, who when thirty-two years old carried the unsold edition of his first book upon his back to his attic chamber; who died at forty-four still unknown to the general public; this child of obscurity, who printed but two volumes during his lifetime, has had ten volumes of his writings published by others since his death, while four biographies of him have been issued in America (by Emerson, Channing, Sanborn, and Jones), besides two in England (by Page and Salt). Thoreau was born in Boston on July 12, 1817, but spent most of his life in Concord, Massachusetts, where he taught school and was for three years an inmate of the family of Ralph Waldo Emerson, practicing at various times the art of pencil-making — his father's occupation — and also of surveying, carpentering, and housekeeping. So identified was he with the place that Emerson speaks of it in one case as Thoreau's native town. Yet