The editor of the Girl's own Paper a magazine, circulating about a quarter of a million copies, has asked me to supplement, a series of articles on "Some Poets Oversea, by a chapter on Walt Whitman. This paper goes to the homes and hearts of the outside public, and I wondered if I dared to ask you which of all your noble messages, you would like specially brought to their notice.
In a late work on the lighter forms, known as Ballades, Rondeaus &c, the
loc_vm.02120_large.jpg
Athenaeum, in a review by
mr Theo. Watts,2 after many
columns of kindly notice advised me to turn
to your works as antidote—not dreaming perhaps—that in years of
study of the petty pretty trifling of the debonair school.
Your poems with Omar Khayyaim were the strong
tonic's that kept energy for the enervating work. Yes I who now am asked
to speak of you have only
Love to guide me, for in very truth, no more incapable mouse ever fretted
at the meshes of a lion's net, than I. Yet fresh from new perusal of Leaves of Grass
loc_vm.02121_large.jpg
I felt emboldened—to ask this of you—in hope
that thereby. I might undertake the immense responsibility with
a certainty of at least one correct representation of your gospel.
This, & this alone must be my excuse for adding another needless letter to your overburdened table.
But, we who love you over here, & the band is growing and earnest are especially keen of late, that no word should reach you, but of estimation & reverence.
Faith fully yours Gleeson WhiteCorrespondent:
Joseph William Gleeson White
(1851–1898) was an English critic and editor. He wrote extensively on the
subjects of design, illustration, and book-binding. He also founded the
periodical The Studio. He wrote English
Illustration: The 1860s (1897), a study of Victorian book art, and he
contributed to numerous periodicals and designed several book covers.