{"id":"01KG8AM94VEVXQP1958JET0HCC","cid":"bafkreif4qtxjflwp6lozzx2ib463b5s662vd7esks3cr4nnrutd6an5lma","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4046,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 11","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":3992,"text":"founded upon old English history or the tales of Boccaccio. Whereas,\r\ngreat geniuses are parts of the times, they themselves are the times,\r\nand possess a corresponding colouring. It is of a piece with the Jews,\r\nwho, while their Shiloh was meekly walking in their streets, were still\r\npraying for his magnificent coming; looking for him in a chariot, who\r\nwas already among them on an ass. Nor must we forget that, in his own\r\nlifetime, Shakespeare was not Shakespeare, but only Master William\r\nShakespeare of the shrewd, thriving, business firm of Condell,\r\nShakespeare and Co., proprietors of the Globe Theatre in London; and by\r\na courtly author, of the name of Chettle, was looked at as an ‘upstart\r\ncrow,’ beautified ‘with other birds’ feathers.’ For, mark it well,\r\nimitation is often the first charge brought against originality. Why\r\nthis is so, there is not space to set forth here. You must have plenty\r\nof sea-room to tell the Truth in; especially when it seems to have an\r\naspect of newness, as America did in 1492, though it was then just as\r\nold, and perhaps older than Asia, only those sagacious philosophers, the\r\ncommon sailors, had never seen it before, swearing it was all water and\r\nmoonshine there.\r\n\r\nNow I do not say that Nathaniel of Salem is a greater man than William\r\nof Avon, or as great. But the difference between the two men is by no\r\nmeans immeasurable. Not a very great deal more, and Nathaniel were\r\nverily William.\r\n\r\nThis, too, I mean, that if Shakespeare has not been equalled, give the\r\nworld time, and he is sure to be surpassed in one hemisphere or the\r\nother. Nor will it at all do to say that the world is getting gray and\r\ngrizzled now, and has lost that fresh charm which she wore of old, and\r\nby virtue of which the great poets of past times made themselves what we\r\nesteem them to be. Not so. The world is as young to-day as when it was\r\ncreated; and this Vermont morning dew is as wet to my feet, as Eden’s\r\ndew to Adam’s. Nor has nature been all over ransacked by our\r\nprogenitors, so that no new charms and mysteries remain for this latter\r\ngeneration to find. Far from it. The trillionth part has not yet been\r\nsaid; and all that has been said, but multiplies the avenues to what\r\nremains to be said. It is not so much paucity as superabundance of\r\nmaterial that seems to incapacitate modern authors.\r\n\r\nLet America, then, prize and cherish her writers; yea, let her glorify\r\nthem. They are not so many in number as to exhaust her goodwill. And\r\nwhile she has good kith and kin of her own to take to her bosom, let her\r\nnot lavish her embraces upon the household of an alien. For believe it\r\nor not, England after all, is in many things an alien to us. China has\r\nmore bonds of real love for us than she. But even were there no strong\r\nliterary individualities among us, as there are some dozens at least,\r\nnevertheless, let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children,\r\nbefore she praises (for everywhere, merit demands acknowledgment from\r\nevery one) the best excellence in the children of any other land. Let\r\nher own authors, I say, have the priority of appreciation. I was much\r\npleased with a hot-headed Carolina cousin of mine, who once said,--‘If\r\nthere were no other American to stand by, in literature, why, then, I\r\nwould stand by Pop Emmons and his _Fredoniad_, and till a better epic\r\ncame along, swear it was not very far behind the _Iliad_.’ Take away the\r\nwords, and in spirit he was sound.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 11"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVQAZF49HK19VVYQ1DXW","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8K7FCXWQ9X5E8TAEJQS","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM951GFJ6E7J0FWXEKCES","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.899Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.418Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}