text:  But whether it be that Miss Barrett is afraid of degrading poetry to the low rank of an _accomplishment_--whether it be that she has some peculiar theory of her own on the subject of language and on the mode in which poetical emotions may be most felicitously expressed--whether it be that nature has denied her the possession of a sound critical judgment or that she refuses to exercise it in the moment of inspiration--whether it be that she considers the habit of pure and polished composition an attainment of very secondary importance--or whether it be that she has allowed herself to be infected by the prevailing mannerisms of the day--certain it is that there is a large proportion of her poetry in which she has failed to add the graces of good style and of careful versification to her other excellent acquirements