SD1226.1. Ralph Waldo Emerson to Anna Barker Ward

Addendum to The Brownings’ Correspondence, vol. 10.

Concord,

30 April, 1845.

My dear friend,

Mr Bradford made so many stops on his way homeward, that I did not receive my letter until Monday noon, as I was stepping into the cards for Boston. …

I read a few weeks ago the poems you praise of Miss Barrett. “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship” is very charming, full of power, & of fine pictures, and betraying what delicate perceptions! To such admirable execution I suppose we must forgive the want of a pure natural melody, which, the ill natured poets affirm, our brilliant poetess has not. Do you think in heaven the angel Gabriel has perfect nature and perfect art? …

Publication: The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Eleanor M. Tilton (New York, 1991), 8, 25–26.

Manuscript: Harvard University.

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