" Rightly understood, it is
on the softest of all objects, the sympathetic heart, that
the wheel of society turns easily and securely as on a
perfect axle. There is no room, of course, for doubt or
discussion, about conduct, where every one is to follow the
law of his being with exact compliance. Whitman hates doubt,
deprecates discussion, and discourages to his utmost the
craving, carping sensibilities of the conscience. We are to
imitate, to use one of his absurd and happy phrases, "the
satisfaction and aplomb of animals." If he preaches a sort
of ranting Christianity in morals, a fit consequent to the
ranting optimism of his cosmology, it is because he declares
it to be the original deliverance of the human heart; or at
least, for he would be honestly historical in method, of the
human heart as at present Christianised. His is a morality
without a prohibition; his policy is one of encouragement all
round. A man must be a born hero to come up to Whitman's
standard in the practice of any of the positive virtues; but
of a negative virtue, such as temperance or chastity, he has
so little to say, that the reader need not be surprised if he
drops a word or two upon the other side. He would lay down
nothing that would be a clog; he would prescribe nothing that
cannot be done ruddily, in a heat. The great point is to get
people under way.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137