WALT WHITMAN THE MAN AND THE POET BY JAMES THOMSON ("B.V.") (Author of "THE CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT") WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BERTRAM DOBELL LONDON PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR 1910 18.361987 INTRODUCTION It is not, perhaps, at all necessary that I should write an Introduction to the present booklet. "The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo," and I know very well that any words of mine must have little value or interest as compared with those of James Thomson. Why then do I write any but the briefest prefatory note to the present brochure? Well, to be quite candid with the reader, simply because it pleases me to do so. The subject is to me an attractive one, and the present opportunity of writing upon it is one which I am unwilling to let pass. "The labour we delight in physics pain," And tasks we love bring ever priceless gain. Whatever else may be in dispute about Whitman, it is at least certain that he is a good subject to write about. It is possible when discoursing about him to survey almost the whole range of questions relating to religion, morals, politics, art and poetry. This may, perhaps, account for the fact that there is now a small library of books about him, not to mention a large number of uncollected articles in reviews and periodicals. It is difficult, therefore, to say anything new about him-or at least to say anything which is at once new and true. Therefore, I shall not trouble myself overmuch about the originality or non-originality of my - V |