The Walt Whitman Archive
Commentary
Contemporary Reviews
About this Item
Title: [Review of "After All, Not to Create Only"]
Creator: unknown [unsigned in original]
Date: January 1872
Whitman Archive ID: anc.00196
Source: The Atlantic Monthly January 1872: 108-9. The electronic text for this file was prepared by Whitman Archive staff, who transcribed the text from a representation of the original (e.g., digital scan or other electronic reproduction, microfilm copy). For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the reviews, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Natalie O'Neal, Elizabeth Lorang, and Vanessa Steinroetter
. . .
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."