Dear Sir，
I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of. Leaves of Grass. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it， as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seems the sterile and stingy Nature， as if too much handiwork or too much lymph in the temperament were making our Western wits fat and mean. I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well， as they must be. I find the courage of treatment， which so delights us， and which large perception only can inspire.
I greet you at the beginning of a great career， which must yet have had a long foreground somewhere， for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion， but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits， namely， of fortifying and encouraging. I did not know until I， last night， saw the book advertised in a newspaper， that I could trust the name as real and available for a post office.
I wish to see my benefactor， and have felt much like striking my tasks， and visiting New York to pay you my respects.
R.W. Emerson
Concord
Massachusetts
21 July 1855
亲爱的先生：
对于卓越超群的《草叶集》，我对它的价值并非视而不见。我认为它是美国迄今为止所出版的最杰出最具才智的作品。我在读它的时候，心情十分愉快，伟大的力量总会让我们感到愉快。我一直都认为，我们似乎处于贫瘠枯竭的状态，似乎太多的精雕细琢，或者过度的迂缓气质正使我们西方的智慧变得迟钝而平庸，而《草叶集》正是我们所需要的。我很高兴您拥有这样自由而勇敢的思想，我感到十分兴奋。我发现，很多事物都应该表现出它本身拥有的无可匹敌的美，我也看到其中那种大胆的令我们愉悦的记述，也许只有具有深刻理解力的人才能够把它挖掘出来。