A History of American LiteratureBoynton, Percy Holmes
History
A History of American Literature
Boynton, Percy Holmes
American literature -- History and criticism
FIELDS, MRS. ANNIE. Authors and Friends. 1896.
GANNETT, W. C. Studies in Longfellow, etc. 1898. (_Riv. Lit.
Ser., No. 12._)
HENLEY, W. E. Views and Reviews. 1890.
HIGGINSON, T. W. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1902.
HOWELLS, W. D. My Literary Friends and Acquaintances. 1900.
HOWELLS, W. D. The Art of Longfellow. _North American Review_,
March, 1907.
KENNEDY, W. S. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1882.
LAWTON, W. C. A Study of the New England Poets. 1898.
LOWELL, J. R. A Fable for Critics, passim. 1848.
NORTON, C. E. H. W. Longfellow: a Sketch. 1907.
PERRY, BLISS. Park Street Papers, The Centenary of Longfellow.
1908.
POE, E. A. In Literati: Mr. Longfellow and Other Plagiarists;
Mr. Longfellow, Mr. Willis, and the Drama; Longfellow's
Ballads.
RICHARDSON, C. F. American Literature, Vol. II, chap. iii.
ROBERTSON, E. S. Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1887.
ROSSETTI, W. M. Lives of Famous Poets. 1878.
STEDMAN, E. C. Poets of America. 1885.
TRENT, W. P. Longfellow and Other Essays. 1910. Cambridge
History of American Literature, Vol. II, Bk. II, chap. xii.
UNDERWOOD, F. H. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: a Biographical
Sketch. 1882.
WINTER, WILLIAM. Old Friends. 1909.
TOPICS AND PROBLEMS
Read fifty pages at random from "Outre-Mer." Compare them in tone and
style with a passage of equal length from the essays on English life
in "The Sketch Book" or from "Innocents Abroad" or from Howells's
"London Films."
Apply the tests for popular fireside poetry referred to on pages
263 and 270 to the poems of Longfellow which you regard as general
favorites.
Read from three to six of Longfellow's ballads and compare them with a
similar number by Tennyson or Dante Gabriel Rossetti or Whittier.
What was there in Longfellow's education and profession to lead him to
the contention in 1840 that there was no difference in the characters
and modes of thought of Englishmen and Americans?
See Whitcomb's "Chronological Outlines of American Literature" for the
years 1845 to 1850 for the absence of any strikingly popular fiction in
the period when "Evangeline" was published.
Read "Hiawatha" for the broad view of ethnic life which naturally
escapes the attention of the child reader. Compare in general the
measures of "Hiawatha" and of "Beowulf" (in the original or in metrical
translation).
Note Longfellow's characterizations of the Puritans in the poems
mentioned on page 277 and compare these with Hawthorne's.
Read "The Prelude," "The Day is Done," "Seaweed," and "Birds of
Passage" for Longfellow's comments on the poet and the poetic art.
CHAPTER XIX
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account