Page:Facts and Fancies about Our "Son of the Woods", Henry Clarence Kendall and his Poetry (IA factsfanciesabou00hami).pdf/13



From the unpretentious title of this Essay—one may call it—on Henry C. Kendall and his poetry, my readers may understand that it is written simply as a kind of Preparatory Reading-book to the higher study of the more perfect songs of the poet known to the general public through the medium of the volumes of his works, entitled "Leaves from the Forests," "Songs from the Mountains," and "Kendall's Poems." The homely manner in which "Facts and Fancies" are herein retailed may not be considered an objection by the class of readers desired—that is, those who wish to know something of the private life of the poet, his character as a man, and his aims as a writer. We do not assume the office of a critic in this Essay, nor yet that of a biographer, in the strict sense of that word. At the same time this humble effort may possibly throw certain sidelights on both the character and works of the poet, such as shall have the effect of helping to clear away many misrepresentations and misunderstandings of that genuinely good and wonderfully gifted man, to whom we have given so little and to whom we owe so much. To his "would-be detractors" I would say, "If thou hast heard a word, let it die with thee."

And to those who would deery Kendall "as a personality" because he was extremely delicately framed (which, strange to say, I have heard put forward as a reason why one should not be too enthusiastic in one's admiration for the poet), to such deeriers I would recall the words of the Psalmist as to whom the Creator of all chooses to favour with His special gifts, as a rule: