"He is almost the one of your poets that knows How much grace, strength, and dignity lie in Repose; If he sometimes fall short, he is too wise to mar His thought's modest fulness by going too far; 'Twould be well if your authors should all make a trial Of what virtue there is in severe self-denial, And measure their writings by Hesiod's staff, Who teaches that all has less value than half." Especially humorous are those lines which give a recipe for the making of a Washington Irving and those which describe the idealistic philosophy of Emerson:-- "In whose mind all creation is duly respected As parts of himself--just a little projected." Prose.--Lowell's literary essays entitle him to rank as a great American critic. The chief of these are to be found gathered in three volumes: _Among My Books_ (1870), _My Study Windows_ (1871), _Among My Books_, _Second Series_ (1876). These volumes as originally issued contain 1140 pages. If we should wish to persuade a group of moderately intelligent persons to read less fiction and more solid literature, it is doubtful if we could accomplish our purpose more easily than by inducing them to dip into some of these essays. Lowell had tested many of them on his college students, and he had noted what served to kindle interest and to produce results. We may recommend five of his greater literary essays, which would give a vivid idea of the development of English poetry from Chaucer to the death of Pope. These five are: _Chaucer_, in _My Study Windows; Spenser_, in _Among My Books, Second Series; Shakespeare Once More_, and _Dryden_, in _Among My Books, First Series_; and _Pope_, in _My Study Windows_. If we add to these the short addresses on _Wordsworth_ and _Coleridge_, delivered in England, and printed in the volume _Democracy and Other Addresses_ (1886), we shall have the incentive to continue the study of poetry into the nineteenth century. Lowell's criticism provokes thought. It will not submit to a passive reading. It expresses truth in unique and striking ways. Speaking of the French and Italian sources on which Chaucer drew, Lowell says:-- "Should a man discover the art of transmuting metals, and present us with a lump of gold as large as an ostrich egg, would it be in human nature to inquire too nicely whether he had stolen the lead? ... "Chaucer, like Shakespeare, invented almost nothing. Wherever he found anything directed to Geoffrey Chaucer, he took it and made the most of it.... "Sometimes he describes amply by the merest hint, as where the Friar, before setting himself softly down, drives away the cat. We know without need of more words that he has chosen the snuggest corner."