It is not till later verse that poets springing from the soil are given sweeping praise, because of the mysterious communion they enjoy with "nature." [Footnote: For verse glorifying the peasant aspect of Burns see Thomas Campbell, _Ode to Burns_; Whittier, _Burns_; Joaquim Miller, _Burns and Byron_; William Bennett, _To the Memory of Burns_; A. B. Street, _Robbie Burns_ (1867); O. W. Holmes, _The Burns Centennial_; Richard Realf, _Burns_; Simon Kerl, _Burns_ (1868); Shelley Halleck, _Burns_.] Obviously the doctrine is reinforced by Wordsworth, though few of his farmer folk are geniuses, and the closest illustration of his belief that the peasant, the child of nature, is the true poet, is found in the character of the old pedlar, in the _Excursion_. The origin of Keats might be assumed to have its share in molding poets' views on caste, but only the most insensitive have dared to touch upon his Cockney birth. In the realm of Best Sellers, however, the hero of May Sinclair's novel, _The Divine Fire_, who is presumably modeled after Keats, is a lower class Londoner, presented with the most unflinching realism that the author can achieve. Consummate indeed is the artistry with which she enables him to keep the sympathy of his readers, even while he commits the unpardonable sin of dropping his h's. [Footnote: Another historical poet whose lowly origin is stressed in poetry is Marlowe, the son of a cobbler. See Alfred Noyes, _At the Sign of the Golden Shoe_; Josephine Preston Peabody, _Marlowe_.] Here and there, the poet from the ranks lifts his head in verse, throughout the last century. [Footnote: For poet-heroes of this sort see John Clare, _The Peasant Poet_; Mrs. Browning, _Lady Geraldine's Courtship_; Robert Buchanan, _Poet Andrew_; T. E. Browne, _Tommy Big Eyes_; Whittier, _Eliot_; J. G. Saxe, _Murillo and his Slave_.] And at present, with the penetration of the "realistic" movement into verse, one notes a slight revival of interest in the type, probably because the lower classes are popularly conceived to have more first hand acquaintance with sordidness than those hedged about by family tradition. [Footnote: See John Davidson, _A Ballad in Blank Verse_; Vachel Lindsay, _The North Star Whispers to the Blacksmith's Son_; John Masefield, _Dauber_; Francis Carlin, _MacSweeney the Rhymer_ (1918).] Still, for the most part, the present attitude of poets toward the question seems to be one of indifference, since they feel that other factors are more important than caste in determining the singer's genius. Most writers of today would probably agree with the sentiment of the lines on Browning, What if men have found Poor footmen or rich merchants on the roll Of his forbears? Did they beget his soul? [Footnote: Henry van Dyke, _Sonnet_.]