The chapter on Other Writers is, from the nature of the case, manifestly incomplete, as the scope of the work permits but a glance at those writers whose books are enjoying the popularity of the

moment.

Certain suggestions for more extended reading along biographical lines appear at the end of each chapter, and it is to be hoped that the student will be sufficiently interested to follow them up. At the end of the manual is a list of general reference books of a more critical character.

J. B. S.

CLEVELAND, OHIO.

INTRODUCTION

A PRELIMINARY SURVEY

OUR literature is not one of the great literatures of the world. We have no names that may be compared with the literary masters of England, France, or Germany. We cannot boast of a Shakespeare or a Milton; of a Hugo or a Molière; of a Goethe or a Schiller. Nevertheless, we have a literature that is worthy of our love and constant study. With very few exceptions our leading writers have been noble in character, gracious in manner, and pure in thought, and their lives are exemplified in their writings. If they have not been great writers, the messages which they have brought to us are imbued with lofty sentiment and high ideals.

Two general criticisms are often made in regard to American literature. First, that it is imitative and sectional. Cooper is called the American Scott, Bryant the American Wordsworth, Irving the American Addison, and the contention is maintained that all our writers

have been influenced largely by English models, both as to subject-matter and style.

Second, that American literature is sectional. We have the Knickerbocker School, the Cambridge School, the Southern poets, and the Western writers, but no one writer great enough to be truly national.

While there is a certain amount of truth in these criticisms, they are lost sight of in the study of the noble group of writers whose names are the glory of our literature, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Poe, Bryant, Whittier, Lowell, Holmes, Cooper, and Irving. from these writers constitute

Selections

our classics

Emerson's Essays, Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, Longfellow's Evangeline, Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, Irving's Sketch-Book, Poe's Raven, Bryant's Thanatopsis, Whittier's Snow-Bound, Holmes's The Autocrat, and Lowell's Biglow Papers.