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Sydney Dobell
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Sydney Dobell : Balder
[Charlotte Bronte to Sydney Dobell, 3 February 1854:]
'"Balder" arrived safely. I looked at him, before cutting his leaves, with singular pleasure [...] I have read him. He impresses me thus: He teems with power; I found in him a wild wealth of life [...]
'There is power in that character of "Balder," and to me a certain horror. Did you mean it to embody, along with force, any of the special defects of the artistic character? It seems to me that those defects were never thrown out in stronger lines. I did not and could not think you meant to offer him as your cherished ideal of the true great poet; I regard him as a vividly coloured picture of inflated self-esteem, almost frantic aspiration; of a nature that has made a Moloch of intellect — offered up, in pagan fires, the natural affections — sacrificed the heart to the brain. Do we not all know that true greatness is simple, self-oblivious, prone to unambitious, unselfish attachments? I am certain you feel this truth in your heart of hearts.'
