Bull Run" (compare Irving Bacheller's "Eben Holden," chap. xxxix.), "The Oaks and I," "Nature and Democracy." What other American writers never married and never went abroad? Has the latter fact affected their "Americanism"? Read "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," "Beat! Beat! Drums!" "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” “O Captain, My Captain," "Whispers of Heavenly Death," "The Mystic Trumpeter,” "Joy, Shipmate, Joy." Compare "The First Dandelion" with Lowell's "To the Dandelion." Which poem says most or suggests most? Which is the more natural, simple, spontaneous? For imagination and lyric rapture, compare "To the Man-of-War-Bird" with Bryant's "To a Waterfowl" and Shelley's "Skylark." Compare "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" with Clough's "In a Lecture Room." Find, in Whitman's poems, metrical lines, especially dactylic hexameters. Is his "Spirit That Formed This Scene" a satisfactory answer to the charge that his poems lack art? Can Whitman be said to be preaching the same fundamental doctrine as Emerson?

VIII. POETRY IN THE SOUTH

Read Richardson, Vol. I., 58-60; Wendell, VI. iii.

Hayne's Complete Poems, with life, 1882. Timrod's Poems, Memorial edition, 1899. Lanier's Poems, with memorial by William Hayes Ward, 1892. "Select Poems of Sidney Lanier," by Morgan Callaway. "Selections from the Southern Poets," by W. L. Weber, Macmillan's Pocket English Classics. "Bugle Echoes," ed. by F. F. Browne, 1886. "Southern Literature," by Louise Manly. "Pioneers of Southern Literature” (Ticknor, Timrod, Hayne), by S. A. Link. Stedman's "Poets of America."

Read the poems indicated in the text, or the selections to be found in "L. P. S." or "A. A." In particular, Lanier's "Hymns of the Marshes," "Corn," and "The Symphony" should be read. See also "June Dreams in January." Compare Lanier's "Song of the Chattahoochee" with Tennyson's "The Brook." Study the landscape and music effects in "The Marshes of Glynn." What is the faith formulated in “Acknowledgment"?

IX. PROSE AND POETRY IN THE WEST

For selections, see "L. A. L." and "A. A." Biographical and critical helps to the study of living writers are necessarily scant. A

variety of articles, though little that is final, may be found in the
files of magazines through Poole's Index. A few of the letters of E.
R. Sill have been published in the volume of his prose. See "The
Literary Emancipation of the West," The Forum, XVI., 156; also
Mississippi Valley Literature," in Walt Whitman's "Specimen
Days;" "The Hoosiers," by M. Nicholson, in "National Studies in
American Letters."

66

Suggestions for discussion: The humor of Bret Harte; the serious-
ness of Mark Twain; Huckleberry Finn's ideas of honor. How far
does romantic idealism, as found in "Ramona," enter into Harte's
stories? Does it enter into Mark Twain's at all? Discuss Eugene
Field as a poet of childhood and as a poet for children.

X. POETRY AND CRITICISM IN THE EAST

For selections, see "L. A. L." and "A. A.” The Letters of Emily
Dickinson have been published, and they are quite as original and
suggestive as her poems. Mr. Stedman's critical work should be
already familiar. The introduction to his “American Anthology
may be profitably read in this connection.

Suggestions for discussion: The American boy in literature (see
Aldrich, Twain, Warner, Howells); the best books for children (Miss
Alcott, Mrs. Burnett, Jacob Abbott, etc.). Consider late writers upon
outdoor subjects and the varying degree of human interest in their
writings. Has New York overtaken New England in literary pro-
ductivity? (Consider writers, magazines, publishing houses, univer-
sities, libraries, etc.) May differences in the quality of product still
be observed? Has journalism worked to the detriment of scholar-
ship?

XI. LATE MOVEMENTS IN FICTION

For selections from the elder writers, see "L. A. L." Consult
W. D. Howell's "Criticism and Fiction," Marion Crawford's "The
Novel: What It Is," and Hamlin Garland's "Crumbling Idols;" also
"Two Principles in Recent American Fiction," by James Lane
Allen, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1897.

The short stories of Bret Harte may be contrasted with Poe's tales,
or the stories of Miss Wilkins with Hawthorne's tales, to bring out
the difference between the romantic and the realistic methods. An
attempt might profitably be made to classify the most popular novels

of the last few years according as they are realistic or romantic in
their tendency; according as they are delineations of past life (his-
torical), of present life (realistic again, or "local"), or of purely im-
aginary scenes; and according as they are novels of plot and incident
(in the short story, situation), novels of character, or novels of pur-
pose (moral, didactic, "problem" novels). This will at least serve
to bring out the nature and extent of the present activities in the
field of fiction. Further discussion might turn upon the best short
stories, the long novels most likely to live, and the characters in
American fiction that are sufficiently well known to permit of refer-
ence to them without explanation.

INDEX

NOTE. The number of the page on which the author or subject is specially
treated is in each case given first; passing references follow. Names of Ameri-
can authors are printed in small capitals. Names of foreign authors are printed
in ordinary lower case, and have dates attached. British authors are distin-
guished from other foreign authors by the addition of first names. All titles are
printed in italics. Only the more important titles are indexed.