CONTENTS
PA GE
GENERAL REFERENCES .	. xviii
CHAPTER I. THE COLONIAL PERIOD .
Introduction— the Spirit of our First Writings.
Beginnings of American Literature. Why the Colonists
wrote Few Books. Why study Colonial Records?
Colonial Annalists and Historians. Bradford. Winthrop.
Some Old Love Letters. Sewall. lagl. Various Chronicles
of Colonial Days. Satire and Criticism. Histories.
Indian Narratives.
Colonial Poetry. The Bay Psalm Book. Characteristics of
Early Poetry. Anne Bradstreet. Wigglesworth. Godfrey.
Theological1W-Tier—s. Cotton Mather. Edwards.
Summary of Colonial History and Literature. Selections
for Reading. Bibliography. Questions. Subjects for
Essays.
CHAPTER II. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION . 86
Historical Outline. Social Development. The Stamp Act
and what followed. The Revolution. The Constitution.
Literature of the Revolution. General Tendencies.
Revolutionary Poetry. Revolutionary Prose. Citizen
Literature.
Transition from Colony to Nation. Benjamin Franklin.
Orators and Statesmen of the Revolution. Typical
Speeches. Otis. Patrick Henry. Revolutionary Statesmen.
Washington. Permanent Political Parties. Hamilton.
Jefferson.
The Poetry of the Revolution. Songs and Ballads. The
Hartford Wits. Barlow. Dwight. Trumbull. Beginning of
Romantic Poetry. Freneau. Miscellaneous Verse.
Various Prose Works. Thomas Paine. John Woolman.
Beginning of American Fiction. Charles Brockden Brown.
Summary of the Period. Selections for Reading.
Bibliography. Questions. Topics for Research and for
Essays.
xi
xii	AMERICAN LITERATURE
PAGE
CHAPTER III. THE FIRST NATIONAL OR CREATIVE PERIOD .	.	
.	169
The Background of History. National Unity. Expansion.
Democracy. Industrial Development.
Literature of the Period. General Characteristics.
Poets and Prose Writers. Irving. Bryant. Cooper. Poe.
Simms.
Minor Fiction. Catherine Sedgwick. Susanna Rowson.
Melville. Dana. Kennedy.
Minor Poetry. The Knickerbocker School. Willis. Drake.
Halleck. The Orators. Clay. Calhoun. Everett. Webster.
The Historians. Miscellaneous Works. Juveniles.
Summary of the Period. Selections for Reading.
Bibliography. Questions. Subjects for Research.
CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND NATIONAL OR CREATIVE PERIOD	.	.	
.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	270
History of the Period. General Outlines. The Age of
Agitation. The War.
Literary and Social Movements. National and Sectional
Literature. Mental Unrest. Communistic Societies. Brook
Farm. Transcendentalism. General Characteristics of the
Major Literature.
The Greater Poets and Essayists. Longfellow. Whittier.
Emerson. Lowell. Holmes. Lanier. Whitman.
Minor Poetry. Lyrics of War and Peace. Southern
Singers. Timrod. Hayne. Ryan. Singers East and West.
Taylor. Stoddard. Joaquin Miller. Various other Poets.
Novelists and Story-tellers. Hawthorne. John Esten
Cooke. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Bret Harte. Typical
Story-tellers.
Miscellaneous Prose Writers. Thoreau. The Historians.
Motley. Parkman.
Summary of the Period. Selections for Reading.
Bibliography. Questions. Topics for Research and for
Essays.
CHAPTER V. SOME TENDENCIES IN OUR RECENT LITERATURE .	.	
.	.	.	.	.	.	. 447
Impossibility of a History of the Present Age.
Reminiscent Writings. Hale. Curtis. Higginson.
Mitchell. Discovery of American Literature.
The Poetry of the Present. The New Folk Songs. Stedman.
Aldrich. "America Singing."
Our Recent Fiction. Romance and Realism. Representative
Realists. Howells. Modified Types of Realism and
Romance. The Modern Novel. Mark Twain. Joel Chandler
Harris. Conclusion.
INDEX .	• 473
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
POE'S COTTAGE AT FORDHAM 	 Frontispiece
From the etching by Charles F. W. Mielatz
TITLE-PAGE OF THE "DAY OF DOOM"	 50
By Michael Wigglesworth, 1715. Courtesy of the Lenox
Library
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 	 1(36
From the portrait by Duplessis
THE TORY'S DAY OF JUDGMENT	 136
	An illustration from John Trumbull' s"M' Fingal," New
York, 5795	
Courtesy of the Lenox Library
THE EDICT OF WILLIAM THE TESTY 	 186
Knickerbocker's "History of New York." From the
painting by Boughton; property of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art
RIP VAN WINKLE 	 192
A portrait of JO' seph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle, by
Marion Swinton
STATUE OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, NEW YORK PUBLIC
LIBRARY 	 20 2
WASHINGTON IRVING AND HIS LITERARY FRIENDS AT SUNNYSIDE
250
ABRAHAM 'LINCOLN 	 270
Pen etching by R. M. Chandler. From a photograph made
in 1864
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 	 284
From an engraving after the portrait by Lawrence
THE PARISH PRIEST 	 292
	From "Evangeline," edition of 1882. Engraved by F. 0.
C. Darley	
Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Company
RALPH WALDO EMERSON	 318
From an unfinished portrait by Furness. Courtesy of the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Alts, Philadelphia
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C. ...... 448
xlii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The Settlement of Jamestown. From a print in the
Congressional Library,
Washington 	 8
Governor Bradford's House. From a print owned by the
Lenox Library 	 i r
A Portion of the Bradford MS. "History of Plimoth
Plantation"	13
Old Fort, Plymouth. From an old engraving . . . .	. .	I
5
John Winthrop. From the Van Dyke portrait 	 19
Samuel Sewall. From an old engraving 	 27
William Byrd. From the portrait at "Brandon," Virginia 	
33
Westover, Virginia—Home of the Byrds . .	.....	•	• 38
John Eliot. From a portrait in the possession of the
family of the late
William Whiting 	 43
Title-page of "The Bay Psalm Book." The first English
book printed in
	America. Courtesy of the Lenox Library   44
Illustration from the Doctrina Christiana, printed in
Mexico City by Juan
Pablos in 1544. The first book printed in America that
contained
cuts to illustrate the text 	 45
Title-page of the "New England Primer," First Edition,
1727. Courtesy
of the Lenox Library 	 52
Cotton Mather. From the Peter Pelham portrait. Courtesy
of the American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.	 57
Harvard College in 1726. From a print by Paul Revere 	
6o
Title-page of the "Magnolia Christi Americana." London,
1702 . . . 	 65
Jonathan Edwards. From a portrait that was owned by the
late Eugene Edwards	 71
Benjamin Franklin. From a print by Ritchie, after the
drawing by C. H	
Cochin, 1777 	 99
Title•page from "Poor Richard's Almanac." From the
third impression
of 1733 	 105
Franklin's Printing Press 	 110
Patrick Henry. From the portrait by Thomas Sully 	 113
George Washington. From the Athenceum portrait by
Gilbert Stuart . 	 115
Alexander Hamilton. From the Trumbull portrait.
Courtesy of the New
York Public Library 	 118
Early View of King's College (Columbia). From an old
engraving . . 	 119
xv
xvi	AMERICAN LITERATURE
PAGE
Thomas Jefferson. From the painting by Gilbert Stuart,
Walker Art Build-
ing, Bowdoin College 	 123
Street Front of the University of Virginia (1819-1826),
designed by
Thomas Jefferson 	 126
Monticello, Jefferson's Home 	 127
Independence Hall, Philadelphia 	 131
Joel Barlow. From the portrait by Robert Fulton . ....	
134
Timothy Dwight. From the portrait by Trumbull 	 135
Yale College in 1820. From an old engraving 	 136
Early View of Princeton College, N. J. After a wood
engraving by A	
Anderson Hall 	 139
	Philip Freneau. From an engraving by Halpin   142
First Page of "The Crisis," by Tom Paine. Courtesy of
the Pennsylvania
Historical Society, Philadelphia 	 15o
Charles Brockden Brown. After Me miniature by William
Dunlap, 1806	
Courtesy of the Lenox Library 	 155
The Franklin Bicentennial Medal. Designed by Louis and
Augustus SaintGaudens to commemorate the two hundredth
anniversary of Franklin's birth, and presented to the
French Government by the United States . 168
Emigration to Western Country. After a drawing by
Darley 	 171
Early view of Chicago. From an old print 	 176
Street Scene in Modern Chicago .	.....	. . . .
•	In
Washington Irving . .	. .	..........	.
•	179
New Amsterdam, 1664. From a copper _plate by Augustyn
Heermanns .	183
Henry Hudson entering New York Bay. After painting by
Edward Moran. Courtesy of Me Honorable Theodore Sutra .
. . .	. . 188
Sunnyside, Irving's Home on the Hudson .	. .	• • •	193
William Cullen Bryant. From a photograph by Sarony, New
York . .	196
James Fenimore Cooper. From the portrait by C. L.
Elliott 	 207
Otsego Lake, Cooperstown, N.Y.	..........	. . .	217
Edgar Allan Poe. From a daguerreotype. Courtesy of
Brown University
Library 	 226
Fitz-Greene Halleck 	 253
Daniel Webster. From a painting owned by Mr. George A.
Plimpton	257
J. J. Audubon. After the miniature by F. Cruikshank 	
259
	The Front Hall, Longfellow's Home, Cambridge .   288
Kitchen and Hearth in Whittier's House at Haverhill 	
303
John Greenleaf Whittier 	 308
The Old Manse, Concord 	 323
Emerson's Study 	 325
James Russell Lowell 	 338
Lowell Home, Cambridge 	 342
Oliver Wendell Holmes 	 352
Great Pine on Wendell Farm, Pittsfield 	
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS	xvii
PAGE
354
Sidney Lanier 	 359
Walt Whitman. After the portrait by f W. Alexander, in
the Metropolitan
Museum of Art 	 37o
Bayard Taylor  	385
Nathaniel Hawthorne 	 391
The Wayside, Concord .
• 395
The Great Stone Face  	• 399
Harriet Beecher Stowe 	 410
Thoreau's Hut and Furniture on the Shore of Walden Pond 	
422
	Francis Parkman. From a daguerreotype   431
Eugene Field 	 451
	James Whitcomb Riley .   452
ThomaS Bailey Aldrich	 454
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). From a photograph taken in
1897 .	464
GENERAL REFERENCES
The authorities and references named in this book are
arranged in two main divisions. In this first list are
general works in literature and history that will be
useful throughout the entire course of study. This will
be supplemented at the end of each chapter by a special
bibliography of works dealing with the period under
consideration. There are four of these special
bibliographies, which include also the most available
texts and the best selections for reading.
American Literature. There is no complete or
authoritative history of the subject. One of the best
general surveys is Richardson, American Literature,
1607-1885, 2 vols., or Students' edition, vol. (Putnam,
t888). This is a critical work and contains no
biographical material. Two other general histories,
each containing a small amount of biography
interspersed with critical appreciation, are Trent,
American Literature, in Literatures of the World series
(Appleton, 1903), and Wendell, A Literary History of
America, in the Library of Literary History (Scribner,
1900). There are also nearly a score of textbooks
dealing with the same subject. Pleasant for
supplementary reading is Mitchell, American Lands and
Letters, 2 vols. (Scribner). A brief but excellent
outline is given in White, Sketch of the Philosophy of
American Literature (Ginn and Company).
Periods and Types of Literature. The only complete and
scholarly work dealing with any period of our literary
history is Tyler, History of American [Colonial]
Literature, 2 vols., and Literary History of the
Revolution, 2 vols. (Putnam).
Critical Appreciations. Brownell, American Prose
Masters; Burton, Literary Leaders of America;
Vincent, American Literary Masters; Vedder, American
Writers of To-day.
Poetry. Stedman, Poets of America; Onderdonk, History
of American Verse; Collins, Poetry and Poets of
America; Otis, American Verse, 1625-1807.
Fiction. Erskine, Leading American Novelists; Perry, A
Study of Prose Fiction; Smith, The American Short
Story; Canby, The Short Story in English; Matthews,
The Short Story: Specimens illustrating its
Development; Baldwin, American Short Stories; Howells,
Criticism in Fiction; James, The Art of Fiction;
Loshe, The Early American Novel.
xviii
GENERAL REFERENCES	xix
History, Humor, etc. Jameson, History of Historical
Writing in America; Payne, Leading American Essayists;
Haweis, American Humorists; Payne, American Literary
Criticism; Sears, History of Oratory; Fulton and
Trueblood, British and American Eloquence (lives of
twenty-two orators, with selections); Seilhamer,
History of the American Theatre, z 749-1797, 3 vols.;
Roden, Later American Plays, 1831-1 goo; Smyth, The
Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors; Hudson,
Journalism in the United States; Thomas, History of
Printing in America (1810).
Literary Essays. One of the most significant features
of our later literature is the number of books of
literary essays and reminiscences, such as Lowell's My
Study Windows, and Among my Books, Howells's Literary
Friends and Acquaintance, Trowbridge's My Own Story,
Woodberry's Makers of Literature, Higginson's Cheerful
Yesterdays, and many others. These will be referred to
in the special bibliographies.
Sectional Works. National Studies in American Letters,
edited by Wood-berry, is a series of volumes each
dealing with a group of authors: Higginson, Old
Cambridge; Swift, Brook Farm; Addison, The Clergy in
American Letters; Nicholson, The Hoosiers; etc.
(Macmillan). Baskerville, Southern Writers, 2 vols.;
Holliday, History of Southern Literature; Moses,
Literature of the South; Lawton, The New England Poets
; Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio
Valley.
Biography. Several series of extended biographies are
available, the most complete being the American Men of
Letters (Houghton). A few of our leading authors are
found also in English Men of Letters, in Great Writers
series, and in the brief Beacon Biographies. The best
of these works will be referred to in the special
bibliographies. Biographical collections are Adams,
Dictionary of American Authors (Houghton, 1897);
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, 6 vols.
(Appleton, 1886-1889); Allibone, Dictionary of English
Literature and British and American Authors, 6 vols.
(Lippincott, 1858-1891); Mary Howes, American Bookmen
(Dodd, 1898); Fields, Biographical Notes and Personal
Sketches (Houghton, 1881); Tuckerman, Personal
Recollections of Notable People, 2 vols. (Dodd, z 895).
Bibliography and Chronology. A very useful book of
reference is Whitcomb, Chronological Outlines of
American Literature (Macmillan, 1906). Wegelin, Early
American Poetry, 2 vols., Early American Fiction, Early
American Plays; Foley, American Authors, 1795-1895
(privately printed, 1906). For a list of historical
romances see the second volume of Baker, History in
Fiction, 2 vols. (1907), or Nield, Guide to the Best
Historical Novels and Tales (1902). The best guide to
periodicals is Poole's Index to Magazine Literature.
Books of Selections. General: A single volume covering
the entire field of American prose and poetry is
Readings in American Literature, edited
xx	AMERICAN LITERATURE
by Miss MacAlarney and Miss Calhoun (announced, 1913,
Ginn and Company); Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of
American Literature, II vols. (Webster, 1888-189o);
Duyckinck, Cyclopedia of American Literature, 2 vols.
(revised 1875, Scribner); Bronson, American Poems,
1625-1892 (University of Chicago Press, 1912);
Lounsbury, American Poems (Yale University Press, r9I
2); Stedman, An American Anthology, 1787-1900
(Houghton, 1900); Carpenter, American Prose (Macmillan,
1898); Harding, Select Orations Illustrating American
Political History, 1761-1895 (Macmillan); Johnson,
American Orations, 3 vols. (Putnam); Kettell, Specimens
of American Poetry, 3 vols. (1829); Griswold, Poets and
Poetry of America (1842), Prose Writers of America
(1847), Female Poets of America (1848).
Colonial and Revolutionary: Trent and Wells, Colonial
Prose and Poetry, 3 vols. (Crowell); Cairns, Selections
from Early American Writers (Macmillan).
National Period: Page, Chief American' Poets
(Houghton); Sladen, Younger American Poets, 183o-1890
(Crowell); Knowles, Golden Treasury of American Songs
and Lyrics (Page); Crandall, Representative American
Sonnets (Houghton).
War and Patriotism: Eggleston, American War Ballads and
Lyrics, 2 vols. (Putnam); Moore, Songs and Ballads of
the American Revolution (1856); Sargent, Loyalist
Poetry of the Revolution (1857); Moore, Songs of the
Soldiers, 3 vols. (Putnam, 1864); Brown, Bugle Echoes,
Northern and Southern songs of the Civil War (White,
1886); Matthews, Poems of American Patriotism
(Scribner); Nellie Wallingford, American History by
American Poets, 2 vols. (Duffield); Stevenson, Poems of
American History (Houghton); Scollard, Ballads of
American Bravery (Silver).
Sectional: Trent, Southern Writers: Selections in
Prose and Verse (Macmillan); Mims and Payne, Southern
Prose and Poetry (Scribner); Louise Manly, Southern
Literature (Johnson).
Miscellaneous: The Humbler Poets: Newspaper and
Periodical Verse, first series, 187o-1885, edited by
Thompson; second series, 1885-191o, edited by Wallace
and Rice (McClurg); Lomax, Cowboy Songs and Other
Frontier Ballads (Sturgis); Barton, Old Plantation
Hymns (Boston, 1899).
On the Study of Literature. Woodberry, Appreciation of
Literature; Harrison, The Choice of Books; Stedman,
The Nature and Elements of Poetry; Caffin, Appreciation
of the Drama; Perry, Study of Prose Fiction; Gayley and
Scott, Introduction to the Methods and Materials of
Literary Criticism. A useful little book for students
and teachers preparing for college-entrance English is
Trent, Hanson and Brewster, An Introduction to the
English Classics (1911, Ginn and Company).
GENERAL REFERENCES	xxi
Texts and Helps. Before beginning the study of
literature the teacher or student should write for the
latest catalogue of such publications as the Standard
English Classics (Ginn and Company), Riverside
Literature Series (Houghton), Maynard's English
Classics (Merrill), Pocket Classics (Macmillan), Lake
Classics (Scott), Everyman's Library (Dutton), etc.
Almost every educational house now publishes an
inexpensive series of texts devoted to the best works
of English and American authors. Many of them are well
edited and arranged with special reference to class
use. In studying the major writers these handy little
volumes will be found much more satisfactory than the
cumbersome anthologies. (References to the various
school series will be made in "Selections for Reading
"at the end of each chapter. Standard texts of
complete works will be listed in the special
bibliographies.)
American History. Textbooks: For ready reference the
student should have at hand a concise, reliable text,
such as Montgomery, Student's American History;
Muzzey, American History; Channing, Student's History
of the United States; Elson, History of the United
States; etc. For more extended reading the following
are recommended:
General: The American Nation, edited by Hart, 27 vols.
(Harper), is the most complete history of our country.
American History Series, 6 vols.: Colonial Era, by
Fisher; French War and the Revolution, by Sloane, etc.
(Scribner). Epochs of American History, 3 vols.: The
Colonies, by Thwaite; Formation of the Union, by Hart
; Division and Reunion, by Wilson (Longmans). Narrative
and Critical History of the United States, edited by
Winsor, 8 vols. (Houghton); McMaster, History of the
People of the United States, 1784-186o, 8 vols.
(Appleton). An especially valuable reference work for
the student of our early literature is American History
told by Contemporaries, edited by Hart; 4 vols.
(Macmillan).
Social: Low, The American People, a Study in National
Psychology, 2 vols. (Houghton, 1909, 1914
Political: Stanwood, History of the Presidency to 1896,
a revised edition of the same author's History of
Presidential Elections (Houghton); Johnston, American
Political History, 2 vols. (Putnam); Gordy, History of
Political Parties in the United States, 2 vols. (Holt),
covers the period from 1787 to 1828.
Biography: Lives of important historical characters in
the American Statesmen series (Houghton); other
biographical series are the Makers of America (Dodd),
Great Commanders (Appleton), and the so-called True
Biographies (Lippincott). Individual biographies,
collections, and autobiographies will be listed in the
special bibliography at the end of each chapter.
Bibliography: Channing, Hart and Turner, Guide to the
Study and Reading of American History (revised 1912,
Ginn and Company); Andrews, Gambrill and Tall,
Bibliography of History (Longmans).