Other editions of book Modern American Poetry

The end of the Civil War marked the end of a literary epoch. The NewEngland group, containing (if Poe could be added) all the great names ofthe ante-bellum period, began to disintegrate. The poets had outsungthemselves; it was a time of surrender and swansongs. Unable to respondto the new forces of political nationalism and industrialreconstruction, the Brahmins (that famous group of intellectuals whodominated literary America) withdrew into their libraries. Poets likeLongfellow, Bryant, Taylor, turned their eyes away from the nativescene, rhapsodized endlessly about Europe, echoed the “parlor poetry” ofEngland, or left creative writing altogether and occupied themselveswith translations. “They had been borne into an era in which they had nopart,” writes Fred Lewis Pattee (_A History of American Literature Since1870_), “and they contented themselves with reëchoings of the oldmusic.” ... Within a single period of six years, from 1867 to 1872,there appeared Longfellow’s _Divina Commedia_, C. E. Norton’s _VitaNuova_, T. W. Parson’s _Inferno_, William Cullen Bryant’s _Iliad_ and_Odyssey_, and Bayard Taylor’s _Faust_.

The end of the Civil War marked the end of a literary epoch. The New England group; containing (if Poe could be added) all the great names of the ante-bellum period; began to disintegrate. The poets had outsung themselves; it was a time of surrender and swansongs. Unable to respond to the new forces of political nationalism and industrial reconstruction; the Brahmins (that famous group of intellectuals who dominated literary America) withdrew into their libraries. Poets like Longfellow; Bryant; Taylor; turned their eyes away from the native scene; rhapsodized endlessly about Europe; echoed the “parlor poetry” of England; or left creative writing altogether and occupied themselves with translations. “They had been borne into an era in which they had no part;” writes Fred Lewis Pattee (A History of American Literature Since 1870); “and they contented themselves with reëchoings of the old music.” ... Within a single period of six years; from 1867 to 1872; there appeared Longfellow’s Divina Commedia; C. E. Norton’s Vita Nuova; T. W. Parson’s Inferno; William Cullen Bryant’s Iliad and Odyssey; and Bayard Taylor’s Faust.

The end of the Civil War marked the end of a literary epoch. The New England group; containing (if Poe could be added) all the great names of the ante-bellum period; began to disintegrate. The poets had outsung themselves; it was a time of surrender and swansongs. Unable to respond to the new forces of political nationalism and industrial reconstruction; the Brahmins (that famous group of intellectuals who dominated literary America) withdrew into their libraries. Poets like Longfellow; Bryant; Taylor; turned their eyes away from the native scene; rhapsodized endlessly about Europe; echoed the “parlor poetry” of England; or left creative writing altogether and occupied themselves with translations. “They had been borne into an era in which they had no part;” writes Fred Lewis Pattee (A History of American Literature Since 1870); “and they contented themselves with reëchoings of the old music.” ... Within a single period of six years; from 1867 to 1872; there appeared Longfellow’s Divina Commedia; C. E. Norton’s Vita Nuova; T. W. Parson’s Inferno; William Cullen Bryant’s Iliad and Odyssey; and Bayard Taylor’s Faust.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Modern American Poetry: An AnthologyWhitman, who was to influence future generations so profoundly in Europe as well as in America, had already appeared. The third edition of that stupendous volume, Leaves of Grass, had been printed in 1860. Almost im mediately after, the publisher failed and the book passed out of public notice. But private scrutiny was keen. In 1865 a petty Oflicial discovered that Whitman was the author Of the notorious Leaves of Grass and, in spite Of his great sacrifices in nursing hundreds of wounded soldiers, in Spite of his many past services and his present poverty, the Offending poet was dismissed from his small clerkship in the Department of the Interior at Wash ington, D. C. Other reverses followed rapidly. But Whitman, broken in health and cheated by his exploiters, lived to see not only a seventh edition of his great work published in 1881, but a complete collection printed in his seventy-third year (1892) in which the twelve poems of the experimental first edition had grown to nearly four hundred.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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The indebtedness is alphabetically acknowledged to: RICHARD G. BADGER for the poems from Sun and Saddle Leather and Grass-G rown Trails by Badger Clark. BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY for two poems from The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley. BRENTANOS for two poems from Chanteys and Ballads by Harry Kemp. NICHOLAS L. BROWN for the poem from Blood of Things by Alfred Kreymborg. THE CENTURY COMPANY for the selections from Merchants from Cathay by William Rose Benet and War and Laughter by James Oppenheim. THE CENTURY MAGAZINE for Lake Song by Jean Starr Untermeyer. LODD, MEAD COMPANY for the two poems from Lyrics of Loiuly Life and one poem from Lyrics of Love and Laughter by Paul Laurence Dunbar. GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY for the selections from Moons of Grandeur by William Rose Benet, Banners by Babette Deutsch, Trees and Other Poems by Joyce Kilmer, and Hide and Seek by Christopher Morley. DOUBLEDAY, PAGE COMPANY for the selections from In Other Words and Tobogganning on Parnassus by Franklin P. A dams, The Man with the Hoe and Lincoln and Other Poems by Edwin Markham.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.