Item 109 - Letter from George Santayana to R. C. Trevelyan

Richmond. - Has just finished reading Trevelyan's "Birth of Parsival", and thanks him for the pleasure of reading it and his kindness in sending it and his other books. Apologises for not replying before, which Trevelyan must have thought 'strange and rude'. Thinks Trevelyan's poetry 'the best, the most pleasing' being written at present, and could have written many sincere compliments; however, he has 'fallen out of love with poetry, and feel[s] a kind of incompetence in speaking of it' as one might of a 'sweetheart that had jilted one'. Seems to see 'the author's intention rather than his achievement' in what he reads, and cannot help wondering whether writers are 'doing more than indulge a sort of school-boys day-dream, dealing with nothing real'. Does not say this to discourage Trevelyan from writing more - 'heaven forbid!' - but to explain his long silence and lack of anything pertinent to say.