CHAPTER III

PERIOD OF THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY,

1800-1850

VERSE

THE time of experiment is over. The nation is made. The Constitution has been adopted. The place of the United States among the other nations of the world has been made good. Years of peace and comparative commercial prosperity make possible the devotion of lives to literary work. The interminable theological disquisitions of the colonial period are not repeated now; but vigorous theological discussion and strong practical religious thinking find expression in Literature of a high type. The political thought of the time is directed to questions of practical government. The national mind is gaining repose and dignity. There is a consciousness of growing strength, combined with the uneasiness. due to the newness of our national existence. The bird of freedom sometimes soared very high and the rooster of Democracy sometimes crowed very loudly. The faults so severely satirized by Dickens in the "American Notes” and in “Martin Chuzzlewit" were unquestionably conspicuous in the life of the time; and we find them noted and rebuked by

some of our own writers; but on the other hand, the national virtues of enterprise, energy, and generosity are equally evident. While slavery already disturbed politics, practical discussion dealt mainly with measures of compromise, with the relations of the state and national governments, and with questions of tariff, currency, and internal improvement. These discussions developed a group of political orators, chief among whom were Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. Of these, Clay was the most widely popular, Calhoun surpassed in logical argument, but Webster has made the most enduring place in the literature of oratory. The dawning interest in scientific study appears in the writings of Schoolcraft and Audubon. Historical narrative is represented by Prescott, Bancroft, and a number of lesser lights. Poe's short stories and Cooper's novels stand out distinctly among many excellent works of fiction which have not, like them, held the attention of posterity. Among essayists, N. P. Willis is the most. important. Bryant and Poe touch a very high note

Epic Verse. in the poetic scale, and Drake, Halleck, and Percival lead a group of lesser poets who write with real music and with true imagination.

Richard Henry Dana, 1787-1879.

Of the poets of this period the first name that we consider is that of Richard Henry Dana. He was one of a notable family, four generations of which gained distinction in American public life. Like most of the writers of the previous period, Dana was first a man of affairs a distinguished lawyer and secondarily a literary man. He was