Instead, he turned once more to add new poems to his collection. A hint in explanation is to be found in a poem written about this time,[237] in which he tells how, having first sought knowledge, he then determined to live for America and become her orator; he was afterwards possessed by the desire for a heroic life of action, but was given the commission of song. Finally, another change came over his spirit; the claims of his own life seized him; he could not escape from the passion of comradeship which overwhelmed him and wholly absorbed his thought.[238] We shall consider this phase in the next chapter, but before doing so, it will be well to recall the political events of the hour and the circumstances surrounding the advent of a new power and personality into American life. FOOTNOTES: [202] M. D. Conway, _Autobiography_. [203] _Fort. Rev._, vi., 538; Kennedy, 51. [204] _In re_, 36. [205] See _Familiar Letters of H. D. Thoreau_, 339-349. [206] F. B. Sanborn's _Thoreau_, 307; _cf._ H. S. Salt's _Thoreau_, 293. [207] _Fam. Letters_, 347. [208] Camden, lxxii.; _cf._ _Life of A. Tennyson_, ii., 424. [209] A new translation of the great Indian classic had just appeared. [210] Kennedy, 78. [211] _L. of G._, 112, 120. [212] _L. of G._, 176. [213] _L. of G._ (1860), 329; _cf._ _An American Primer_, by W. W. (1904). [214] _L. of G._, 179. [215] _L. of G._, 177. [216] _Ib._, 120. [217] _L. of G._, 129. [218] _Ib._, 207; ('60), 229-31. [219] See also p. 166. [220] _L. of G._, 285. [221] _Ib._, 148. [222] _L. of G._, 264. [223] _Ib._ (1860), 121. [224] _L. of G._ (1860), 166. [225] _Ib._, 171-74; _cf._ _L. of G._, 213. [226] _L. of G._ (1860), 172. [227] See esp. the _Life of Susan B. Anthony_. [228] _L. of G._, 88. [229] _L. of G._, 90. [230] _Ib._ (1856). [231] Bucke, 139. [232] Burroughs, 19. [233] Camden, vii.; viii., 244-260; ix., 200; x., 32. [234] _In re_, 35. [235] Camden, ix., 7, 8. [236] _Ib._, viii., 245. [237] _L. of G._ (1860), 354. [238] As the poem is not given in the complete _L. of G._ I reprint it here:--