No American has approached Lowell's
success in this difficult genre: the swift transitions from rural
Yankee humor to splendid scorn of evil and to noblest idealism
reveal the full powers of one of our most gifted men. The
preacher lurked in this Puritan from first to last, and the war
against Mexico and the Civil War stirred him to the depths.
His prose, likewise, is a school of loyalty. There was much of
Europe in his learning, as his memorable Dante essay shows, and
the traditions of great English literature were the daily
companions of his mind. He was bookish, as a bookman should be,
and sometimes the very richness and whimsicality of his bookish
fancies marred the simplicity and good taste of his pages. But
the fundamental texture of his thought and feeling was American,
and his most characteristic style has the raciness of our soil.
Nature lovers like to point out the freshness and delicacy of his
reaction to the New England scene. Thoreau himself, whom Lowell
did not like, was not more veracious an observer than the author
of "Sunthin' in the Pastoral Line," "Cambridge Thirty Years Ago,"
and "My Garden Acquaintance.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206