WHAT AUTHORS THINK OF THEIR OWN WORKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 32

WHAT AUTHORS THINK OF THEIR OWN WORKS.

It is' interesting ,to notice in what way manyauthqrs have become their own critics, and to compare their conclusions with those arrived at by the public. Every writer must have expressed at some time tosomebody an opinion as to the quality of his writings, or have stated a preference for one particular bopk or part of a book. Even Lord Tennyson, most reserved of men, has given us to understand 'that he considers " The Daisy " his best short poem, while he is convinced that the " Bugle-song" in "The Princess" is 1 "the finest lyric in the English language." Dr Oliver Wendall Holmes says that « The Chambered Nautilus" is his greatest perform lance in verse, though the public show a greater liking for the tale of the "One Hos§ Shay." 4 The perverseriess of the public is ' again manifested by their refusing to think ' with the author that " Paradise Regained " is superior to " Paradise Lost," or by agreeing with Lord Byron that his translations of the "Morgante" of Pulci was the best thing he ever wrote. Lord Lytton was as greatly mistaken in his estimate of " King Arthur," to which the public prefer " The I^ady of Lyons," but of which the author himself wrote : "If it be worthless, it is at least the worthiest contribution that my abilities enable me to offer to the literature of my country, and I am unalterably convinced that on this foundation I the rest least perishable monument of these thoughts and these labours which have made the ijLfe of my life." But who knows Lord I/ytton a? the author of "King Arth^?" ' i Poor Keats had an idea that his " EJndymion" would "dwindle away." He called it ft," feverish attempt," and confessed that he thought " the twqjfirstjbo'oks, and, indeed, the ; two last, are not of such completion as to ! warrant their passing the press,. * This recalls i Macaulay's letters to Napjter when the sub- j jecfc of issuing a complete edition of his essays was broached. " I know that these pieces are full of faults, and that their popularity has been far beyond their merit," he wrote* and everyone knows how modestly he,r,ate.dffimself in the preface to the book that ultimately made jits appearance. As a comment on these two' authors' udgments it would be , instructive to discover how many editions of the pieces they depreciated have since been called for, Ruskin wr#fce a very curious letter a short time ago,. " I wss" obliged/ he s^id, '? to write too young, vfyen I knew' only half truths, asd was eager ta set them forth by vrhat I thought fine words,. People jused to call me a good writer then: now they say I pan'fc write at all, because, for instance, if I think anybody's house js on fire ' I only say, ' Sir, your house [is on fire,' where formerly I j used po say, 'Si;, the abode in which you probably passed the delightful days of youth ia jn a state x>f inflammation,' and everybody used £o like $c e#ect of jfche two r/s in •probably, passed,' and the jayp d's jn 'de- ! iightfajdays.'" ]' ■ Some others give you their opinions pf \ themselves with frankness equally, refreshing, ' though phej ars not such severe critics of themselves as the author of V Modern Painters." Emerson's admission was, "I am born a poet— of a low class, no doubt, yet a poet. My singing, to be sure, is very .husky, and is for the most part in prose. Still, I am a poet in the .sense of aperceiver and dear lover,.of the harmonies that are in the soul and in- matter, and specially of' the correspondencies between these and : those." Herr jck . was very confident of the value of his, verse, and boldly wrote " upon himself " the following quatrain ; — : Thou ahalfc not all die j for while love's fire shines Upon hiß altar, men shall read thy lines : And learn'd musicians shall, to honour Ilerrlok's Fame and his name, both set and sing his lyrlcks,

Nor is Shakespeare backward when he breaks out in that 6 beautiful sonnet to his loveNot marble, nor the elided monuments ' Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme. On' the other hand, there are authors who have had too modest an opinion of their own works, We owe j# to an accident that Cardinal Newman gaye the %orld that fine poem " The Dream of Gerontius," for it was destined for the waste-paper basket { so ifc was with Goldsmith's « Vicar of Wakefield," Dickens had ?a high opinion of and much affection for "David Copperfield," his " favourite child," and Thackeray was equally pleased with "Esmond." As for honest John Bunyain, he could not conclude his Rhyming preface to " The Pilgrim's Progress " without " shewing the profit of the book." Art fchou for something rare and profitable t Wouldst thou ccc a fcrujth within a fable ? Then read my fancie* ; they will f tjek Hfreburs Atid may be, to the helpless, eomforten, This book is writ lv such n dialect As may the minds of listleßS men affect; ' It Beems a novelty, and yet contains Nothing but sound and honest Gospel strains.