



Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's
University, and Alev Akman






THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN LITERATURE,

A CHRONICLE OF GREAT INTERPRETERS

By Bliss Perry



CONTENTS

     I. THE PIONEERS

     II. THE FIRST COLONIAL LITERATURE

     III. THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION

     IV. THE REVOLUTION

     V. THE KNICKERBOCKER GROUP

     VI. THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS

     VII. ROMANCE, POETRY, AND HISTORY

     VIII. POE AND WHITMAN

     IX. UNION AND LIBERTY

     X. A NEW NATION

     BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE




THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN LITERATURE



CHAPTER I. THE PIONEERS

The United States of America has been from the beginning in a perpetual
change. The physical and mental restlessness of the American and the
temporary nature of many of his arrangements are largely due to the
experimental character of the exploration and development of this
continent. The new energies released by the settlement of the colonies
were indeed guided by stern determination, wise forethought, and
inventive skill; but no one has ever really known the outcome of the
experiment. It is a story of faith, of

   Effort, and expectation, and desire,
   And something evermore about to be.

An Alexander Hamilton may urge with passionate force the adoption of the
Constitution, without any firm conviction as to its permanence. The most
clear-sighted American of the Civil War period recognized this element
of uncertainty in our American adventure when he declared: "We are
now testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure." More than fifty years have passed since
that war rearmed the binding force of the