An opinion prevails, which neither wants the support of respectable names nor of plausible reasonings, that the art of poetry, in common with its sister arts, painting and sculpture, cannot in the present age be cultivated with the same degree of success as formerly. It has been supposed that the progress of reason, of science, and of the useful arts has a tendency to narrow the sphere of the imagination, and to repress the enthusiasm of the affections. Poetry, it is alleged, whose office it was to nurse the infancy of the human race, and to give it its first lessons of wisdom, having fulfilled the part to which she was appointed, now resigns her charge to severer instructors. Others, again, refining upon this idea , maintain that not only the age in which we live must fail to produce anything to rival the productions of the ancient masters of song, but that our own country, of all parts of the globe, is likely to remain the most distant from such a distinction.
无需大人物正名，无需合情的逻辑推理，大家心里明白，当今社会，诗歌和绘画、雕塑等其他艺术形式一样，无法重现昨日荣光。随着理性、科学以及应用艺术的普及，人类的想象空间日益狭窄，涌动的热血激情也压抑退却。过去诗歌滋养人类，开蒙启智。现如今它完成了使命，就将任务交给推理、科学等等更为严格的老师了。有人补充说，我们产不出好作品与古代贤能一较高下，不仅是时代使然。实际上，整个国家、整个世界都与诗歌艺术的巅峰愈来愈远了。
Our citizens are held to possess, in a remarkable degree, the heedful, calculating, prosaic spirit of the age, while our country is decried as peculiarly barren of the materials of poetry. The scenery of our land these reasoners admit to be beautiful, but they urge that it is the beauty of a face without expression; that it wants the associations of tradition which are the soul and interest of scenery: that it wants the national superstitions which linger yet in every district in Europe, and the legends of distant and dark ages and of wild and unsettled times of which the old world reminds you at every step. Nor can our country, they say, ever be more fruitful of these materials than at present. For this is not an age to give birth to new superstitions, but to explode and root out old, however harmless and agreeable they may be, while half the world is already wondering how little the other half will finally believe. Is it likely, then, that a multitude of interesting traditions will spring up in our land to ally themselves with every mountain, every hill, every forest, every river, and every tributary brook. There may be some passages of our early history which associate themselves with particular places, but the argument is that the number of these will never be greatly augmented. The genius of our nation is quiet and commercial. Our people are too much in love with peace and gain, the state of society is too settled, and the laws too well enforced and respected, to allow of wild and strange adventures. There is no romance either in our character, our history, or our condition of society; and, therefore, it is neither likely to encourage poetry, nor capable of supplying it with those materials-materials drawn from domestic traditions and manners-which render it popular.
我们的国民刻上了时代的烙印，小心谨慎、精于算计。有人谴责，我们国家是最产不出诗歌、最贫瘠的土壤。理性的人说，他们承认这片土地景致不错，但她美在皮囊，毫无生气。看着她，人们联想不到她的传统，便是寻不见她的灵魂，没了志趣。欧洲人不管来自哪片地区，心中都扎根着国民信仰。岁月渐远，旧世界的黑暗、野蛮和动荡似乎还在眼前，提醒着他们走好脚下的每一步。我们缺的正是这段传奇故事、这种精神信仰。理性者补充说，美国诗歌素材最多的时代正是此时此刻。现阶段并不是孕育新信仰的好时机，而要去彻底铲除看似无害、温良的旧思想。还没实施，美国就已经开始怀疑，另一半球的人根本不会相信他们。千千万万有趣的新习惯从美国大陆破土而出，想要与这儿的山川、丘陵、森林、河流和小溪产生联系。或许早先，美国也有几个地方打上了历史的烙印，但后来也没有相似的情况发生了。我们国家安定、商业味儿足。国民贪恋和平、追逐利益。社会太稳定，人人尊法守法，政府严格执法，似乎容不得一点儿野性的、不同寻常的冒险。美国的国民性、历史性和社会性注定了这里不会有一丝浪漫，也就谈不上诗歌发展。能让诗歌蓬勃发展的国家传统和民族习性美国统统没有。
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