The Lantern-Bearers

In this piece, I found myself re-reading the beginning because it does not flow with the rest of the essay. Stevenson is giving this anecdotal piece to use the metaphor of Lantern-Bearers, who are the ones that hold the truths in all of life. I did not find this the method of writing effective because the first part has all of description and storytelling that the reader only becomes engaged at the end, when he is explaining the significance of lanterns and how the bearers only know the truth. I also thought the rest of the piece was somewhat choppy and confusing. Stevenson describes different trades and how they seem to harbor different characteristics or traits, such as the Dancer, he explains as “…must have the love of power and disdain of using it, noble character in itself…” To me, this seems unfair because he is grouping a trade into a general consensus where everyone that is a “Dancer” will think or act this way. He then goes on to talk about how certain writers are basically predictable when they express romance or love. The confusing part about this essay is when he criticizes Whitman for being a realist and describing the dullness of a man. My problem with this essay is the feeling that Stevenson is reading too far into any particular subject matter. He thinks that because Whitman is describing the dullness of man that he does not see the beauty in life or the miracles that can happen. This essay is also contradicting: “…dark as his pathway seems to be the observer…” Right there he is saying that we judge each other, but we don’t actually know what is going on behind the thousands of layers built up, when he seems to be criticizing other writers on only their content. Lastly, he ends his piece by condemning melodramas as “without some brightness of poetry and luster of existence, falls into the inconceivable and ranks with fairy tales.” This seems overly judged and untrue. Melodramas have their way of letting people escape from reality, so it begs the question of whether or not this is so bad? I also think he is wrong about fairy tales. The original Brothers Grimm fairy tales were children stories to instill values and to learn the ways of the world, which contradicts his theory of Lantern-Bearers.