A History of American Literature by Percy Holmes Boynton
Chapter 1 No.1
The Athen?um Press
GINN AND COMPANY · PROPRIETORS ·
BOSTON · U.S.A.
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PREFACE
The general purpose in the preparation of this book has been to eliminate negligible detail and to subordinate or omit authors of minor importance in order to stress the men and the movements that are most significant in American intellectual history. The book has therefore been written with a view to showing the drift of American thought as illustrated by major writers or groups and as revealed by a careful study of one or two cardinal works by each. In this sequence of thought the growth of American self-consciousness and the changing ideals of American patriotism have been kept in mind throughout. The attempt is made to induce study of representative classics and extensive reading of the American literature which illuminates the past of the country-chiefly, of course, in reminiscent fiction, drama, and poetry.
As an aid to the student, there are appended to each chapter (except the last three) topics and problems for study, and book lists which summarize the output of each man, indicate available editions, and point to the critical material which may be used as a supplement, but not as a substitute, for first-hand study. This critical material has been selected with a view, also, to suggesting books which might reasonably be included in libraries of normal schools and colleges, as well as in universities.
As further aids to the student, there have been included two maps, three chronological charts, and, in an appendix, a brief characterization of the American periodicals which have been most significant in stimulating American authorship by providing a market for fiction, poetry, and the essay.
In the writing of the book the author's chief obligation has naturally been to the many university classes who have stimulated its preparation, not only by their attention but by their free discussion. Special acknowledgment is gratefully made to Mr. William W. Ellsworth for a careful reading of all the manuscript and to Miss Marie Gulbransen for the initial work in formulating the appendix on the American magazines.
Acknowledgment is due to the publishers of The Nation and The New Republic for portions of the chapters on Crèvec?ur, the Poetry of the Revolution, Emerson, Lowell, Whitman, Sill, and Miller, which originally appeared in these weeklies.
PERCY H. BOYNTON
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1 No.1
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Chapter 2 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
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Chapter 3 THE EARLIEST VERSE
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Chapter 4 THE TRANSITION TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
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Chapter 5 JONATHAN EDWARDS AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
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Chapter 6 CRèVEC UR, THE "AMERICAN FARMER"
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Chapter 7 THE POETRY OF THE REVOLUTION AND PHILIP FRENEAU
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Chapter 8 THE EARLY DRAMA
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Chapter 9 CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN
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Chapter 10 IRVING AND THE KNICKERBOCKER SCHOOL
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Chapter 11 JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
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Chapter 12 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT
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Chapter 13 EDGAR ALLAN POE
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Chapter 14 THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS
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Chapter 15 RALPH WALDO EMERSON
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Chapter 16 HENRY DAVID THOREAU
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Chapter 17 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
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Chapter 18 JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
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Chapter 19 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
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Chapter 20 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
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Chapter 21 HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
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Chapter 22 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
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Chapter 23 SOME METROPOLITAN POETS
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Chapter 24 THE POETRY OF THE SOUTH
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Chapter 25 WALT WHITMAN
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Chapter 26 THE WEST AND MARK TWAIN
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Chapter 27 THE WEST IN SILL AND MILLER
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Chapter 28 THE RISE OF FICTION; WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS
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Chapter 29 CONTEMPORARY DRAMA
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Chapter 30 THE LATER POETRY
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