E-Book Content
Published in 2011 by Britannica Educational Publishing (a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) in association with Rosen Educational Services, LLC 29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. Copyright © 2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Rosen Educational Services materials copyright © 2011 Rosen Educational Services, LLC. All rights reserved. Distributed exclusively by Rosen Educational Services. For a listing of additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles, call toll free (800) 237-9932. First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing Michael I. Levy: Executive Editor J.E. Luebering: Senior Manager Manager Marilyn L. Barton: Senior Coordinator, Production Control Steven Bosco: Director, Editorial Technologies Lisa S. Braucher: Senior Producer and Data Editor Yvette Charboneau: Senior Copy Editor Kathy Nakamura: Manager, Media Acquisition Adam Augustyn: Assistant Manager and Assistant Editor, Literature Rosen Educational Services Jeanne Nagle: Senior Editor Joanne Randolph: Editor Nelson Sá: Art Director Cindy Reiman: Photography Director Matthew Cauli: Designer, Cover Design Introduction by Greg Roza Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data American literature from 1600 through the 1850s / edited by Adam Augustyn. — 1st ed. p. cm. -- (The Britannica guide to world literature) “In association with Britannica Educational Publishing, Rosen Educational Services.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61530-233-8 (eBook) 1. American literature—17th century—History and criticism. 2. American literature—18th century—History and criticism. 3. American literature—19th century—History and criticism. 4. American literature—17th century—Bio-bibliography. 5. American literature—18th century—Bio-bibliography. 6. American literature—19th century—Bio-bibliography. 7. Authors, American—17th century—Biography. 8. Authors, American—18th century—Biography. 9. Authors, American—19th century—Biography. I. Augustyn, Adam, 1979PS185.A395 2011 810.9—dc22 2010004573 On the cover: American literature was entering a renaissance period by the time the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (left) and Walt Whitman were published in the mid 1800s. SuperStock/ Getty Images (Hawthorne); Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (Whitman) Pages 20 (map), 222, 223, 225, 228 © www.istockphoto.com/Vasko Miokovic; pp. 20 (books), 21, 33, 73, 120 © www.istockphoto.com
CONTENTS Introduction: Chapter 1: Early American Literature John Smith The State of Verse Michael Wigglesworth Bay Psalm Book The Story of Mary Rowlandson Chapter 2: The 18th Century Great Awakening Writers of the Revolution Poor Richard Thomas Paine The New Nation Notable Works of the Period Poetry Drama and the Novel Other Significant Figures of the Century Joel Barlow Robert Montgomery Bird Hugh Henry Brackenridge Charles Brockden Brown William Hill Brown William Byrd of Westover Timothy Dwight Olaudah Equiano
22
10
21 25 25 26 29
31
29 33 34 36 37 38 45 49 49 49
38
50 50 52 53 54 56 57 58 59
55
Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson Hannah Webster Foster Philip Freneau Sarah Kemble Knight Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton Susanna Rowson Mercy Otis Warren Phillis Wheatley
62 63 64 65
60
67 68 69 70
Chapter 3: Early 19thCentury Literature 73 Willliam Cullen Bryant 73 The North American Review 75 Washington Irving 76 James Fenimore Cooper 79 Early Years 79 Novels 82 Cultural and Political Involvement 85 Return to America 86 Edgar Allan Poe 100 Life and Writings 102 Appraisal 105 Sarah Helen Power Whitman 108 Other Significant Writers of the Age 109 Maria Gowen Brooks 110 Joseph Dennie 111 Joseph Rodman Drake 112 James Hall 113 John P. Kennedy 1