Poetry and Truth from My Own Life (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: AUTHOR'S PREFACE. As a preface to the present work, which, perhaps, more than another requires one, I should like to quote the letter of a friend, which led me to embark on what could not fail to be- a serious undertaking. " We have now, my dear friend, the twelve parts of your poetical works before us, and on reading them through, find much already known to us, much that is new; while much that we had forgotten is revived by this collection. As these twelve uniform volumes stand before us, we cannot refrain from regarding them as a whole, and one would fain sketch from it the portrait of the author and his characteristics. But it cannot be denied, in view of the vigour with which he began his literary career, and the length of time which has since elapsed, that a dozen small volumes must appear inadequate. Nor can one fail to recognize, in considering individual works, that they were for the most part called forth by special occasions, and reflect particular external facts, as well as distinct stages of mental development; while it is equally clear that ephemeral moral and aesthetic axioms and convictions prevail in them. Nevertheless, as a whole, these productions remain without connection; nay, it is often difficult to believe that they emanated from one and the same writer. " Your friends, in the meantime, have not relinquished the inquiry, and are endeavouring by the light derived from their intimate acquaintance with your mode of life and thought, to guess many a riddle, to solve many a problem;indeed, their old affection and a friendship of many years' standing cause them to find a charm even in the difficulties which present themselves. Yet a little assistance here and there would not be unacceptable, and this help you cannot well refuse to our claims of friendsh...