SD1988. Anna Brownell Jameson to John Kenyon
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 256 (in part).
Ealing
Novr 22d [1856]
Now, dear Mr Kenyon— … I found on my table returning home after an absence—Aurora Leigh—& your name in it—& I have read it all thro, once, & part of it twice—& I am still in a trance of love & wonder and admiration—what beauty, what power—what a grasp of life—what an immensity of thought—what felicity of imagery and exhaustless wealth of illustration—what music bearing all along like an argosie loaded deep with incalculable riches—yet floating softly—as if at the will of the breeze and the wave!– I read & read & every now and then I pause—& think “is that my darling Ba who has spoken all this—my poetess—my pythoness?—mine—yours—his even more (—her dear proud husband!)—& now the world’s poetess—when I can analyse the thoughts—criticise the forms—(if ever I can)—then I will write to her—but I am now in the first enthusiasm of admiration—so I write to you & I thank you for your gift– I am glad to have it from you who love her so well– Now what will the critics say who must say something for that is their trade—the absolutists in morals & politics & art?—one of such said to me the other day—“why did not she write it in prose?” Why does the nightingale sing?—with her speech flows in song & thought & passion must be set to Music—it must be so—because it is God’s gift– …
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Huntington Library.
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