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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 witha 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 thiseBook, there is just one sequence for all of the footnotes, and they appear atthe 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. The backlinks from thefootnotes only go to one of the duplicates.
A HISTORY OF
AMERICAN LITERATURE
SINCE 1870
AMERICAN LITERATURE
SINCE 1870
FRED LEWIS PATTEE
State College. Author of "A History of American Literature,"
"The Poems of Philip Freneau," "The Foundations of
English Literature," etc.
INCORPORATED
NEW YORK LONDON
The Century Co.
RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR
PORTIONS THEREOF, IN ANY FORM.
TO DARTMOUTH COLLEGEAND THE DARTMOUTH MENOF THE EIGHTIES, STUDENTSAND PROFESSORS,AMONG WHOM I FIRSTAWOKE TO THE MEANINGOF LITERATURE AND OFLIFE, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBEDWITH FULL HEART.
PREFACE
American literature in the larger sense of the term began withIrving, and, if we count The Sketch Book as the beginning, thecentennial year of its birth is yet four years hence. It has beena custom, especially among the writers of text-books, to dividethis century into periods, and all have agreed at one point: in themid-thirties undoubtedly there began a new and distinct literarymovement. The names given to this new age, which correspondedin a general way with the Victorian Era in England, have beenvarious. It has been called the Age of Emerson, the TranscendentalPeriod, the Nationa