In his essays, which are prose poems, he lays incessant emphasis on the cardinal virtues of humility, sincerity, obedience, aspiration, and acquiescence to the will of the Supreme Power, and he sustains the mind at an elevation that makes the heights of accepted morality disappear in the level of the plain. With many inconsistencies to be allowed for, Emerson still remains the highest mind that the world of letters has produced in America, inspiring men by word and example, rebuking their despondency, awakening them from the slumber of conformity and convention, and lifting them from low thoughts and sullen moods of helplessness and impiety.
Among other writers identified with the Transcendental movement in New
England are O. B. Frothingham, Orestes A. Brownson, James Freeman Clarke,
William H. Channing, Henry Thoreau, John S. Dwight, C. P. Cranch, W. E.
Channing, T. W. Higginson, C. A. Bartol, D. A. Wasson, John Weiss, and
Samuel Longfellow.
6. MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.—Of the essayists, critics, and miscellaneous writers of the United States, a few only may be here characterized.
Parke Godwin is a brilliant political essayist. E. P. Whipple is an able critic and an essayist of great acuteness, insight, and logical power. H. T. Tuckerman is a genial and appreciative writer, combining extensive scholarship with elevated sentiment and feeling. Richard Grant White's "Commentaries on Shakspeare" have met with a cordial reception from all Shakspearean scholars.
Oliver Wendell Holmes conceals under the garb of wit and humor an earnest sympathy and a deep knowledge of human nature; George W. Curtis combines fine powers of observation and satire with delicacy of taste and refinement of feeling; and Donald G. Mitchell gives to the world his "Reveries" in a pleasing and attractive manner. The writings of A. J. Downing, on subjects relating to rural life and architecture, have exercised a wide and salutary influence on the taste of the country. Willis Gaylord Clark (1810-1841) is best remembered by his "Ollapodiana" and his occasional poems, in which humor and pathos alternately prevail. The "Charcoal Sketches" of Joseph C. Neal (1807-1847) exhibit a genial humor, and will be remembered for the curious specimens of character they embody.
Seba Smith has been most successful in adapting the Yankee dialect to the purposes of humorous writing in his "Jack Downing's Letters" and other productions. The writings of Henry D. Thoreau, combining essay and description, are quaint and humorous, while those of "Timothy Titcomb" (J.G. Holland) are addressed to the practical common sense of the American people.
Charles T. Brooks (d. 1883) is distinguished for his felicitous translations from the German poets and writers.
The writings of George D. Prentice abound in wit and humor. W.H. Hurlburt is an able expositor of political affairs and a brilliant descriptive writer.
7. ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, DICTIONARIES, AND EDUCATIONAL BOOKS. The Encyclopaedia Americana, the first work of the kind undertaken in America, appeared in 1829, under the auspices of Dr. Lieber, and contains articles on almost every subject of human knowledge. The New American Cyclopaedia, edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, is a work on a larger and more original plan, and is particularly valuable as the repository of all knowledge bearing upon American civilization, while at the same time it embodies a great amount of interesting and valuable information on all subjects. Allibone's "Dictionary of English Authors," completed in four large volumes, exceeds all similar works in the number of authors it describes and the details it contains. Among the works containing abundant materials for the history of American literature are the several volumes of Rufus W. Griswold, the "Cyclopaedia of American Literature," by G.L. and E.A. Duyckinck, and other collections or sketches by Hart, Cleveland, Tuckerman, Everest, and Caroline May.
The Dictionary of Noah Webster (1778-1843), an elaborate and successful undertaking, has exercised an influence over the English language which will probably endure for generations. The more recent publication of Worcester's Dictionary, which adds many thousand words to the registered English vocabulary, marks an epoch in the history of the language. It is regarded by competent critics as the first of all English dictionaries in point of merit, and as the fitting representative of the language of the two great branches of the Anglican stock. The "Lectures on the English Language," by George P. Marsh, exhibit a thorough knowledge of the subject, and are admirably designed to render the study attractive to all persons of taste and culture.