E-text prepared by Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries (http://archive.org/details/americana) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://archive.org/details/histamerliterat00pattrich Transcriber's note: This book often uses periods where we would expect to see commas. Lifespans of people still living when this book was written were printed with a long dash (1831----) and that style has been retained here. Footnote numbers in the source reset to "1" at the beginning of each chapter, and usually appeared at the bottom of the page that referenced them. In this eBook, there is just one sequence for all of the footnotes, and they appear at the end of the book, following the Index. Some footnote anchors in the source refer to the same footnote. In this eBook, those Footnote's numbers are: 86, 100, 104, 114, 118, 157, and 163. A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE SINCE 1870 by FRED LEWIS PATTEE Professor of the English Language and Literature in the Pennsylvania State College. Author of "A History of American Literature," "The Poems of Philip Freneau," "The Foundations of English Literature," etc. [Illustration] D. Appleton-Century Company Incorporated New York London Copyright, 1915, by The Century Co. All Rights Reserved, Including the Right to Reproduce This Book, or Portions Thereof, in Any Form. Printed in U. S. A. TO DARTMOUTH COLLEGE AND THE DARTMOUTH MEN OF THE EIGHTIES, STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS, AMONG WHOM I FIRST AWOKE TO THE MEANING OF LITERATURE AND OF LIFE, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED WITH FULL HEART. PREFACE American literature in the larger sense of the term began with Irving, and, if we count _The Sketch Book_ as the beginning, the centennial year of its birth is yet four years hence. It has been a custom, especially among the writers of text-books, to divide this century into periods, and all have agreed at one point: in the mid-thirties undoubtedly there began a new and distinct literary movement. The names given to this new age, which corresponded in a general way with the Victorian Era in England, have been various. It has been called the Age of Emerson, the Transcendental Period, the National Period, the Central Period. National it certainly was not, but among the other names there is little choice. Just as with the Victorian Era in England, not much has been said as to when the period ended. There has been no official closing, though it has been long evident that all the forces that brought it about have long since expended themselves and that a distinctively new period has not only begun but has already quite run its course.