The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892. A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers   By: Various

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE TO INTEREST AND HELP ALL LITERARY WORKERS.

VOL. VI. BOSTON, APRIL, 1892. No. 4.

Copyright, 1892, by WILLIAM H. HILLS. All rights reserved. ENTERED AT THE BOSTON POST OFFICE AS SECOND CLASS MAIL MATTER.

CONTENTS: PAGE

WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE. Roman I Zubof 63

SHALL WRITERS COMBINE? John Braincraft 65

NEWSPAPER COOKERY. Anna Borrows 67

DO THE BEST WRITERS WRITE? Gertrude F. Lynch 70

FASHIONS IN LITERATURE. Pamela McArthur Cole 71

SNEAK REPORTING. Herbert Corey 72

A PLEA FOR THE NOM DE PLUME. Persis E. Darrow 73

TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE. Susan Andrews Rice 74

THE DELUGE OF VERSE. Douglas Dane 75

CONCERNING SONNETS. F. D. Stickney 76

EDITORIAL. 78

Dr. Hale's Rules for Writing. 78

THE SCRAP BASKET. 78

THE USE AND MISUSE OF WORDS. 78

"Cenotaph." 78

BOOK REVIEWS. 79

HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 81

Envelope Pigeon holes. 81

LITERARY ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS. 81

NEWS AND NOTES. 82

WALT WHITMAN IN EUROPE.

With the death and burial of Walt Whitman passes away the most picturesque figure of contemporary literature.

It is true that in England the name of the poet is more familiar than his poetry, and that students of literature are more conversant with the nature of his writings than are the mass of general readers; yet the character of the man and the spirit of his compositions were rapidly beginning to be appreciated by, and to sway an influence over, the whole higher intelligence of the country.

Considering the man and his works, it is almost surprising to find how easily he did conquer for himself an audience, and even admirers, in England. He was par excellence a contemporary American. Not that American who clings to the Puritanic traditions of his English ancestors, but that characteristic product of the New World who looks more with eagerness to the future than with satisfaction on the past, and whose pre eminent optimism is inspired by his ardent appreciation of the living present. Walt Whitman stood forth as an innovator into such realms, where the rigor of conditions demanded an abstract compliance with rules which were based on absolute truths, and where a swerving from them was evidence of impotence. His unconventional forms, the rhymeless rhythm of his verses, which, in appearance, resembled more a careless prosody than a delicately attuned poesy, this alone was enough to provoke, at first, an incredulous smile, even among those whose tastes were endowed with more penetration. But Walt Whitman stood forth, besides, as the representative of a principle which, as yet, is looked upon with suspicion by the old world, of the principle of a broad, grand, all embracing democracy, which elevates manhood above all forms, all conditions, and all limitations.