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Review of "After All, Not to Create Only"

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The poetry of the last month or two is, such as it is, very abundant, and Mr. Walt Whitman adds to the embarrass de richesses one of his curious catalogues of the American emotions, inventions, and geographical subdivisions, which was recited at the opening of the American Institute in New York. The managers call it a "magnificent original poem," and their note of thanks and other testimonies to its extraordinary merit are printed with it; which does not seem desirable in the case of any poem, in spite of what Mr. Emerson has permitted himself to do for Channing's "Wanderer." It must at least alarm the reader when a work is thus offered, and he is told beforehand that if he is the right kind of a reader he will appreciate it."

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