It is to discredit crowds of
admirers of great writers in classical and modern ages, who have
commemorated the labours of poets and dramatists in outward and
visible monuments.
The genius of the great Greek dramatists was not underrated by their
countrymen. Their literary efforts were adjudged to be true memorials
of their fame, and no doubt of their immortality was entertained. None
the less, the city of Athens, on the proposition of the Attic orator,
Lycurgus, erected in honour of AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
statues which ranked with the most beautiful adornments of the Greek
capital. Calderon and Goethe, Camoens and Schiller, Sir Walter Scott
and Burns enjoy reputations which are smaller, it is true, than
Shakespeare's, but are, at the same time, like his, of both national
and universal significance. In memory of them all, monuments have been
erected as tokens of their fellow-countrymen's veneration and
gratitude for the influence which their poetry wields.
The fame of these men's writings never stood in any "need" of
monumental corroboration. The sculptured memorial testified to the
sense of gratitude which their writings generated in the hearts and
minds of their readers.
Pages:
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318