[Feels drawn to Spencer, who is a compatriot and literary brother of the South; says he has acquainted himself with Spencer's work through his essays and informal criticisms in literary magazines, particularly The Southern Magazine ; says he was impressed by " Men Whose Hair Parts in the Middle "; remarks on [Elizabeth Barrett] Browning 's poem " Aurora Leigh . "]

[Says he found his recent letters thought-provoking and pithy; comments on violets and how flowers affected the temperaments of Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Keats ; compliments him on his critical and intellectual abilities; discusses his life at Copse Hill ; feels he has benefited greatly from his withdrawal from society; comments on his daily observation of nature; thanks Spencer for criticism of his work; considers Southern Magazine the only "trustworthy" critical magazine; feel The Atlantic and The New York Nation are imperfect; responds in detail to Spencer's evaluation of his poems, including " Daphles: An Argative Story , " " Renewed , " " The Wife of Brittany , " " Krishna and his Three Handmaidens , " " Under the Pine (To the Memory of Henry Timrod) , " and " The Dream of the South Winds , " " The Bonny Brown Hand , " and " Fire Picture "; discusses the creation of " The Wife of Brittany " which involved a modernization of Chaucer mixed with the influence of Dryden and Keats.]

[Says the violets he sent to Spencer have been a great success; talks about the strange spiritual delight he gets from this flower; remarks how different temperaments are affected by certain plants, Oliver Wendell Holmes by the box-tree, Keats by jissamine; quotes part of a Keats poem; Says he is happy to have found a friend to whom he can turn; says he is very alone; praises Spencer's work at length and in detail; responds to Spencer's critical evaluation, upon his request, of his poems; says The Southern Magazine is the only trustworthy one; thinks little of The Atlantic Monthly and The Nation ; expresses gratitude to William Hand Browne for introducing him.]

[Thanks him for criticism of his poems in Legends and Lyrics ; finds the criticism stimulating; wishes him to become his "Father Confessor"; disagrees with editor from Atlantic Monthly in regard to the poem; feels some of his own poetry mirrors Dryden, Marlowe, Keats, and Morris; gives criticism of Spencer's " A Bow and an Arrow "; mentions William Hand Browne 's urging him to take the initiative in a Southern Literary Guild which he gladly will, out of respect for Browne; discusses possibilities for the guild; hopes to bring out another book of poems.]

[Says he is disappointed that Spencer did not reply to his letter; discusses the successful publication of The Poems of Henry Timrod and request for second edition; believes Timrod's "pathetic" fate and premature death touched the reading public.]

[Says he is happy to do what he can for new book; mentions ironically that, although he is an extreme southerner, he has one literary friend in the South and three in New England ; praises Sydney Lanier for his brilliance and literary gifts.]