Outlines of English and American Literature / An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived

by William J. Long

The Revolutionary period extends from 1765 to the close of the century. A large part of the literature of this period deals, in the early years, with the strife of Loyalists and Patriots or, in the later years, with the word wars of Federalists and Anti-Federalists. These are the political parties into which America was divided by the Revolution and by the question of the Constitution. In general, Revolutionary writing has a practical bent in marked contrast with the theological spirit of Colonial writing.

Our study of Revolutionary literature includes: (1) Benjamin Franklin who marks the transition from Colonial to Revolutionary times, from spiritual to worldly interests. (2) Revolutionary poetry, with its numerous ballads and political satires; the effort of the Hartford Wits to establish a national literature; and the work of Philip Freneau, who was a romantic poet at heart, but who was led aside by the strife of the age into political and satiric writing. (3) Orators and statesmen, of whom Otis and Henry, Hamilton and Jefferson were selected as typical. (4) Miscellaneous writers such as Paine, Crevecoeur, Carver, Abigail Adams and John Woolman who reflected the life of the times from various angles. (5) Charles Brockden Brown, and the beginning of American fiction.

SELECTIONS FOR READING. Typical selections in Cairns, Selections from Early American Writers; Trent and Wells, Colonial Prose and Poetry; Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American Literature, and other anthologies (see "Selections" in the General Bibliography). A convenient volume containing a few selections from every important American author is Calhoun and MacAlarney, Readings from American Literature (Ginn and Company).

Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation and John Smith's Settlement of
Virginia, in Maynard's Historical Readings. Chronicles of the
Pilgrims, in Everyman's Library. Various records of early American
history and literature, in Old South Leaflets (Old South Meeting
House, Boston). Franklin's Autobiography, in Standard English
Classics, Holt's English Readings and several other school editions
(see "Texts" in General Bibliography). Poor Richard's Almanac, in
Riverside Literature. The Federalist and Letters from an American
Farmer, in Everyman's Library. Woolman's Journal, in Macmillan's
Pocket Classics.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. For reference works covering the entire field of
American history and literature see the General Bibliography. The
following works deal with the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.

HISTORY. Fisher, The Colonial Era; Thwaite, The Colonies;
Fiske, Old Virginia and her Neighbors, Beginnings of New England,
Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America.

Winsor, Handbook of the Revolution; Sloane, French War and the
Revolution; Fisher, Struggle for American Independence; Fiske, A
Critical Period of American History; Hart, Formation of the Union.

Studies of social life in Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days;
Fisher, Men, Women and Manners of Colonial Times; Crawford,
Romantic Days in the Early Republic.

LITERATURE. Tyler, History of American Literature,
1607-1765, and Literary History of the Revolution; Sears, American
Literature of the Colonial and National Periods; Marble, Heralds of
American Literature (a few Revolutionary authors); Patterson,
Spirit of the American Revolution as Revealed in the Poetry of the
Period; Loshe, The Early American Novel (includes a study of
Charles Brockden Brown).

Life of Franklin, by Bigelow, 3 vols., by Parton, 2 vols., by
McMaster, by Morse, etc. Lives of other Colonial and Revolutionary
worthies in American Statesmen, Makers of America, Cyclopedia of
American Biography, etc. (see "Biography" in General Bibliography).