but to Whitman's lawlessness of art he was an utter foe.
We find it written down in his notes:

==
"Whitman is poetry's butcher. Huge raw collops slashed from the rump
of poetry, and never mind gristle -- is what Whitman feeds our souls with."

"As near as I can make it out, Whitman's argument seems to be, that,
because a prairie is wide, therefore debauchery is admirable,
and because the Mississippi is long, therefore every American is God."
==

So he says of Swinburne:

==
"He invited me to eat; the service was silver and gold,
but no food therein save pepper and salt."
==

And of William Morris:

==
"He caught a crystal cupful of the yellow light of sunset,
and persuading himself to dream it wine, drank it with a sort of smile."
==

Though not what would be called a religious writer,
Lanier's large and deep thought took him to the deepest spiritual faiths,
and the vastness of Nature drew him to a trust in the Infinite above us.
Thus, his young search after God and truth brought him