DOCSLIB.ORG

J He Is a Friend to the Defeated, Too, Except That They Never Return This Friendship

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
J He Is a Friend to the Defeated, Too, Except That They Never Return This Friendship FRIENDSHIP IN THE LIFE AND POETKY OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON APPROVED: fh$U/.A~ Jh Major Professor Minov Professor g. j>. * Directo •* of the Department of English Demi of the Graduate School FRIENDSHIP IN THE LIFE AND POETRY OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By- Don Ballew Graham, B. A. Denton, Texas August, 1964 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. ROBINSON AND HIS FRIENDS ..... T HI. THE THEME OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SHORTER POEMS 46 IV. THE THEME OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE LONGER POEMS 30 V. CONCLUSION 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY 188 iii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Friendship occupies an extremely significant place in. the life and poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson, There is indeed a vital connection between, the role friendship played in his life and the poetry he published. For without the help of a great number of friends, Robinson would prob- ably n«ver have written as much as he did. Friends aided him in a variety of ways: they provided companionship, encouraged his high sense of purpose, secured Mm publishers, wrote in praia© of his work, found him jobs and living quarters, and gave him money. Few men have ever owed as much to their friends as Robinson owed to Ms, Friendship, or what Ridgely Torrence has called the "cult of friendship,1,1 pervades the two realms of hie existence s his life and his art. As a concrete basis for his survival and as oae of the highest values in his life, friendship overflowed quite naturally into Robinson's poetry. His first two volumes. The Torrent and the Night Before (1896) and The Children of the Night (1897)? contain several poems like "Dear Friends, " "An Old Story, " and "On the Night of a Friend's Wedding" ^Ridgely Torrence, Introduction to Selected Letters of Edwin Arlington Robinaon (New York, 1940), p. viii. which deal with the nature, problems, and complexities of friendship. These short poems introduce aspects of the friendship theme that recur in poem after poem down the long stretch of Robinson's productivity. An early narrative like Lancelot (1920) poses the question of betrayal, and Robinson's last work, King Jasper (1935), poses the same question. From the beginning to end, over a span of forty-odd years of poetic creativity, the friendship theme is present and often supremely important in Robinson's works. The fact of friendship as a main force in Robinson's personal development has received much attention from biographers. Robinson's 2 3 primary biographers, Hermann Hagedorn and Emery Neff, have shown clearly the many valuable services that friends performed for Robinson. They have also revealed the qualities that made Robinson himself such a good friend. In addition, they have held up individual poems such as "Dear Friends" and Captain Craig as examples of poetic expression having ©merged from incidents revolving around friendship in Robinson's life. Neither writer, however, has probed beyond the sur- face the theme of friendship as a constant, continuing thread running through a large number of the poems. Other biographical material about 2 Hermann Hagedorn, Edwin Arlington Robinson: A Bioeraphv (New York, 1938), pp. 112, 187, 2l7, 247. — 3 Emery Neff, Edwin Arlington Robinson (New York. 1948). dd. 111. 130, 139, 171. ^ ~ Robinson ha® also centered upon friendship in the life rather than in the poetry. Several of Robinson's close friends have written useful pieces about him. (Hagedorn, incidentally, was also a close friend, J Walter Rollo Brown's Next Door to a Poet, Esther Willard Bates's Edwin Arlington Robinaon and His Manuscripts, and Laura E. Richards'8 E. A. R. all stress aspects of Robinson's personality, his shyness and reserve for instance, without throwing much light on friendship in either his life or poetry, Two other biographical articles, Denham Sutcliffe's intro- duction to Untriangulated Stars : Letters of Edwin Arlington Robinson to Harry de Forest Smith, 1890-1905 and Ridgely Torrence's introduction to Selected Letters of Edwin Arlington Robinson, comment upon friendship in the life but do not mention friendship in the poetry. Although there has been considerable and fruitful effort on the part of biographers to show the importance of friendship in Robinson's life, there has been almost no attempt by either biographers or critics to illuminate friendship as a major theme in the poetry. Critics have dealt profusely with other dominant themes, such as those of failure, the assertion of spiritual values over material values, and the quest for the Light, and have mentioned friendship only in relation to poems ob- viously concerned with the subject, such as "Reunion" and "Ben Jons on Entertains a Man from Stratford. » Critical works by Lloyd R. Morris, Ben Ray Redman, Mark Van Doren, Charles Cestre, Estelle Kaplan, 4 and Yvor Winters have all overlooked friendship as a theme worthy of separate consideration. Only Ellsworth Barnard in his book Edwin- Arlington Robinson: A Critical Study has devoted any time at all to the thematic implications of friendship in the poetry. Scholarship of Robinson1® works in periodicals has been confined mostly to interpre- tations of individual poems; and, as compared with the numerous articles appearing steadily on such poets as T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost, there has not been much scholarly interest in any aspect of Robinson's art. The theme of friendship has been almost wholly neglected, Barnard's comments on the importance of friendship in Robinson's poetry are worth looking at; the seven pages he has written about this subject are the fullest treatment of the theme of friendship in print, Barnard finds in the poems recurring emphasis on elements such as these: a belief in human brotherhood, the virtue of loyalty in friendship, the inevitable widening of friendships as the friends grow older, the need for helping others, a respect for the individuality of friends, and the 4 8in of self-centeredness. Values such as altruism and loyalty are identified by Barnard as having their direct source in Robinson's adrair- 5 able relationships with Ms friends, In hi® discussion Barnard mentions the following poems as illustrative of friendship acting as a principal 4 Ellsworth Barnard, Edwin Arlington Robinson; A Critical Study (Hew York, 1952), pp. 242-248. ^ 5Ibid., p. 244. concern: "Alma Mater, " The Glory of the Nightingales, Roman Barthoiow, Captain Craig, "The Long Race, " "Reunion, " "Clavering, " "The Cor- ridor* M "Flammonde, " "Glass Houses, " and "Two Gardens in Linn dale. " As will be seen later, these are but a handful of this poems that deal meaningfully with friendship, Barnard has provided a starting point; he has recognised friendship as a concern of several poems. Still, however, he does not nam# friendship as a dominant theme. And, while he doe® mention some of the narratives in connection with friendship, he does not elaborate upon friendship as an independent, vital theme in the narra* tives. Moreover, he does not even register one of the pervading and powerful motifs of the theme—betrayal. These omissions by Barnard ax® common to every critic of Robinson; not one has examined the subject of friendship in either the short poems or in the narratives as completely as the theme merits. The aim of this thesis is twofold! to recapitulate the influence® o£ friendship upon Robinson's life and to explore in depth the theme of friend- ship as it is revealed in the short poems and in the narratives, Little attempt will be made to correlate specific poems with specific incidents in Robinson's life. One does not, after all, always gain very much from the searching for the roots of a poem. Robinson himself in a letter to L» M* Chase (July 11, 1917) commented on the fruitlessnesa of such en- deavor in regard to his works : I do not recall anything of mine that is a direct transcription of experience. The second chapter will confine itself primarily to a sketch of how friends helped shape Robinson's life and how he himself behaved as a friend to others. The third chapter will attempt to elucidate the friendship theme in the short poems. The fourth chapter will analyze friendship in the narratives, in which the theme receives its most comprehensive expression. It is hoped that from this study two things will emerge: a clearer understanding of a humane and civilized Individual who had, as a friend said, a "genius for 7 friendship, " and, above all, a deeper knowledge of the poetry Robinson's friends helped bequeath to the world. 6 Edwin Arlington Robinson, Selected Letters of Edwin Arlington Robinson (New York, 1940), p. 103. ?Laura E. Richards, £. A. R. (Cambridge, Mass. , 1936), p. 26. CHAPTER II ROBINSON AND HIS FRIENDS E, A. Robinson possessed a rare ability to make friends. Yet there was an essential paradox in this gift of friendship. He was not, as one might expect, an extrovert, a backslapper, but was instead the very oppo- site. His shyness at the height of his fame was almost legendary. In a crowd--a crowd for Robinson being any group of over eight people he seldom spoke; when he did, what he said was often inane. And he was lonely much of his life; he never married; women at close range generally mortified him. Yet this lonely, inordinately shy man was able to make an exceptional number of lifetime friends. Despite his shyness and in* articulateness, he had qualities that meant something. He once said of the colors of hia poetry, when they were termed as browns and blacks and grays by a critical acquaintance at MacDowell's, that they were pretty fast colors.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • April 2005 Updrafts
    Chaparral from the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc. serving Californiaupdr poets for over 60 yearsaftsVolume 66, No. 3 • April, 2005 President Ted Kooser is Pulitzer Prize Winner James Shuman, PSJ 2005 has been a busy year for Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. On April 7, the Pulitzer commit- First Vice President tee announced that his Delights & Shadows had won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. And, Jeremy Shuman, PSJ later in the week, he accepted appointment to serve a second term as Poet Laureate. Second Vice President While many previous Poets Laureate have also Katharine Wilson, RF Winners of the Pulitzer Prize receive a $10,000 award. Third Vice President been winners of the Pulitzer, not since 1947 has the Pegasus Buchanan, Tw prize been won by the sitting laureate. In that year, A professor of English at the University of Ne- braska-Lincoln, Kooser’s award-winning book, De- Fourth Vice President Robert Lowell won— and at the time the position Eric Donald, Or was known as the Consultant in Poetry to the Li- lights & Shadows, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004. Treasurer brary of Congress. It was not until 1986 that the po- Ursula Gibson, Tw sition became known as the Poet Laureate Consult- “I’m thrilled by this,” Kooser said shortly after Recording Secretary ant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. the announcement. “ It’s something every poet dreams Lee Collins, Tw The 89th annual prizes in Journalism, Letters, of. There are so many gifted poets in this country, Corresponding Secretary Drama and Music were announced by Columbia Uni- and so many marvelous collections published each Dorothy Marshall, Tw versity.
    [Show full text]
  • A Bibliography of Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1941-1963
    Colby Quarterly Volume 7 Issue 1 March Article 3 March 1965 A Bibliography of Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1941-1963 William White Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Library Quarterly, series 7, no.1, March 1965, p.1-26 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. White: A Bibliography of Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1941-1963 Colby Library Quarterly Series VII March 1965 No.1 A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON, 1941-1963 By WILLIAM WHITE HIS bibliography of Edwin Arlington Robinson is a supple­ T ment to Charles Beecher Hogan's "Edwin Arlington Robin­ son: New Bibliographical Notes," The Papers of the Biblio­ graphical Society of America (New York), Vol. XXXV, pp. 115-144, Second Quarter 1941, which itself supplements Mr. Hogan's admirable A Bibliography of Edwin Arlington Robin­ son (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936). I have fol­ lowed Mr. Hogan's organization and style, with some slight modifications, particularly in the descriptions of books by Robinson. Although an attempt has been made to be as com­ plete as possible, I certainly do not approach Mr. Hogan's work in this respect. While he says (on p. iii of his Bibliography) that his book is "intended primarily for collectors," the present supplement is meant for scholars and critics who would like to know what has been written on the creator of "Luke Havergal" and "Miniver Cheevy" in the past t\venty-two years.
    [Show full text]
  • April Showers
    PARTART 2 Realism and Naturalism Mrs. Charles Thursby, 1897–1898. John Singer Sargent. 3 Oil on canvas, 78 x 39 /4 in. Collection of The Newark Museum. “There are two ways of spreading light: to be The candle or the mirror that reflects it.” —Edith Wharton, “Vesalius in Zante” 531 The Newark Museum/Art Resource, NY 0531 U4P2-845481.indd 531 4/7/06 6:06:33 PM LITERARY HISTORY The Two Faces of Urban America N THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY twentieth centuries, despite the emergence of a Igrowing middle class, rapid industrialization created two sharply contrasting urban classes: wealthy entrepreneurs and poor immigrants from Europe and Asia who provided them with cheap labor. Although dependent upon each other, these two groups seldom met, as they lived in starkly different neighborhoods. The wealthiest families established fashionable districts in the hearts of cities, where they built fabulous mansions. By contrast, the majority of factory workers squeezed into dark, overcrowded tenements where crime, violence, fire, and disease were constant threats. U.S. writers of the time responded to and reflected these urban conditions in their novels, stories, essays, and articles. Picnicking in Central Park, 1885. Robert L. Bracklow. Black and white photograph. “The entire metropolitan center possessed a high and mighty air her heroine Lily Bart’s descent from wealth into poverty is mirrored by a decline in the houses she is calculated to overawe and abash the forced to inhabit. common applicant, and to make the Wharton’s older contemporary and friend Henry James gulf between poverty and success was born into a distinguished Boston family in 1843.
    [Show full text]
  • Edwin Arlington Robinson's Interpretation of Tristram
    / EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON’S INTERPRETATION OF TRISTRAM BY MARY EDNA MOLSEED 'r A THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of The Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of E n g l i s h OMAHA, 1937 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE F O R E W O R D ................................................. i I. AN INTRODUCTION TO ROBINSON .......................... 1 II. THE POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF THE TRISTRAM L E G E N D ..................................................... 13 III. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRISTAN STORY BY THOMAS ........................................ 19 IV. LATER VERSIONS OF TRISTRAM .......................... 24 V. ROBINSON'S INTERPRETATION OF TRISTRAM .............33 BIBLIOGRAPHY 44 i FOREWORD ■ The third great epic, Tristram, which was to complete the Arthurian trilogy, so majestically and movingly in­ terpreted the world-famous medieval romance that the out­ standing excellences of Robinson's verse, thus far ignored by the large reading public, forced themselves into recognition, and he, after thirty years' patient waiting and unflagging trust in his own genius, at last was greeted with universal applause. Although America in the interval had witnessed an exceptional efflorescence of good poetry, he was hailed, not only as the dean, but as the prince of American bards.* The writer, who considers this statement as valid, bases her thesis on the premise that Robinson did appeal to the modem reader. She aims, first, through a study of the poet in general, to show how he appealed to the public. Because Tristram is classed as a medieval character, she will consider the possible origin of the story.
    [Show full text]
  • AVENEL GRAY At
    A Magazine of Verse Edited by Harriet Monroe Tenth Birthday Number October 1922 Avenel Gray by Edwin Arlington Robinson Novelette, by Aline Kilmer Two Poems, by H. L. Davis Worlds, by Edgar Lee Masters Anniversary Editorial 252 East Erie Street, Chicago $3. 00 per Year Single Numbers 25c I have been Chairman of the Committee on Poetry for the New York State Federation, and have been giving a good many talks on poetry. I have found your magazine more real help than any other source of information—I refer con­ stantly to my files for both poems and reviews. Louise Driscoll Vol. XXI No. I POETRY for OCTOBER, 1922 PAGE Avenel Gray Edwin Arlington Robinson 1 Novelette Aline Kilmer 15 Diagonals—Ignis Fatuus—Week-end—Release—Escape Two Poems H. L. Davis 18 Open Hands—Dog-fennel The Seeker Antoinette De Coursey Patterson 19 The Line Fence Edwin Ford Piper 20 Care Janet Norris Bangs 21 October Jewell Bothwell Tull 22 Gender—Foolish Bird—Gray River—Sum—God-like On the Edge Cecil John 24 Gone Under—The White Father—The Toss Old Courtesan's Lament Dhan Gopal Mukerji 27 Worlds Edgar Lee Masters 28 Ten Years Old H. M. 32 Reviews: A Georgian Intellectualist John Gould Fletcher 38 A Canadian Poet H. M. 43 Cross Purposes Pearl Andelson 45 The Poet and Inspiration.... Berenice K. Van Slyke 47 Irish Anthologies Jack Lyman 51 Translating Old English.. Nelson Antrim Crawford 53 Correspondence: A Word from Mrs. Henderson. Alice Corbin Henderson 55 Notes and Books Received 57, 58 Manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped and self-addressed envelope.
    [Show full text]
  • Marsden Hartley
    MARSDEN HARTLEY Exhibition of Recent Paintings, 1936 April 20-May 17,1937 AN AMERICAN PLACE 509 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK WEEKDAYS I O A. M. - 6 P. M. SUNDAYS 3 - 6 P. M. Signing family papers On the Subject of Nativeness Out of the maelstrom emerging —a Tribute to Maine laughter of the mis-spun dream uncoiling from the topmost bough, even to the last The subject matter of the pictures in this present exhibition twig, last leaf, the beating of wings that have is derived from my own native country—New England—and left for other leaves and other the country beyond to the north, geologically much the same dream uncoilings thing, with, if possible, an added tang because it is if anything white wonder of a single complete thought wilder still, and the people that inhabit it, fine types of hard wrapped about the theme as chrysalid boned sturdy beings, have the direct simplicity of these unique with face of pre-dynastic scarab and original places, this country being of course, Nova Scotia. grimacing to the flaws of nature These people, the kind one expects to encounter in the forests tossed from casual aeon to casual aeon— where the moose and caribou range, and who, sauntering to­ and we, the several shapes of self ward the nearer south in search of food which deep snows deny standing in a frozen shadow, asking them, are on perilous ground, doomed to decrease in numbers. of a certain mendicant the un­ As a boy in Maine, one read the news items in the paper after suspected way home—this way—turn October, and the casual daily report was—So-and-So lost in left, then right, go over certain hill, the woods, perished of hunger and cold, and often never found there will be a fire burning— until the thaws of spring, and it is exactly the same today.
    [Show full text]
  • Paradox Style in Edwin Arlington Robinson's
    PARADOX STYLE IN EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON’S SELECTED POEMS Submitted to Faculty of Letters, Hasanuddin University In partial fulfillment of the requirement To obtain sarjana degree In English Department BY KARMILA SUYUTI WAHID F21108012 ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT FACULTY OF LETTER HASANUDDIN UNIVERSITY MAKASSAR 2013 1 ABSTRACT Karmila Suyuti Wahid, 2013. Paradox Style in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Selected Poems. (supervised by R.S.M Assagaf and H. Sudarmin Harun). The purposes of this writing are to identify the paradox in Edwin Arlinton Robinson’s selected poems and interpret the use of paradox by the author. The writer applied a library research to collect data that are relevant to the thesis. In the process of data analysis, the writer has used descriptive method starting from reading poems several times to understand the meaning of those poem and using note-taking technique in order to collect the relevant data. Based on the analysis, the writer has found some paradox in selected poems such as, “Strange that I did not know him” and “That friend of mine”, in An Old Story ; dead, glimmer, in The Dead Village. The writer concludes that the author in the selected poems used paradox style to explain about the meanings that are contradicted to the real meaning. The author uses this style to convey his implied messages. 2 3 4 5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Literature gets a position in our society life that function to submit a certain purpose to society. It reflects to describe about life either through physical and psyches. Literature as one of the art forms has many benefits for mankind.
    [Show full text]
  • Edwin Arlington Robinson - Poems
    Classic Poetry Series Edwin Arlington Robinson - poems - Publication Date: 2012 Publisher: Poemhunter.com - The World's Poetry Archive Edwin Arlington Robinson(22 December 1869 – 6 April 1935) Edwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. <b>Biography</b> Robinson was born in Head Tide, Lincoln County, Maine, but his family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870. He described his childhood in Maine as "stark and unhappy": his parents, having wanted a girl, did not name him until he was six months old, when they visited a holiday resort; other vacationers decided that he should have a name, and selected a man from Arlington, Massachusetts to draw a name out of a hat. Robinson's early difficulties led many of his poems to have a dark pessimism and his stories to deal with "an American dream gone awry". His brother Dean died of a drug overdose. His other brother, Herman, a handsome and charismatic man, married the woman Edwin himself loved, but Herman suffered business failures, became an alcoholic, and ended up estranged from his wife and children, dying impoverished in a charity hospital in 1901. Robinson's poem "Richard Cory" is thought to refer to this brother. In late 1891, at the age of 21, Edwin entered Harvard University as a special student. He took classes in English, French, and Shakespeare, as well as one on Anglo-Saxon that he later dropped. His mission was not to get all A's, as he wrote his friend Harry Smith, "B, and in that vicinity, is a very comfortable and safe place to hang".
    [Show full text]
  • The Plays of Edwin Arlington Robinson
    Colby Quarterly Volume 8 Issue 7 September Article 4 September 1969 The Plays of Edwin Arlington Robinson Irving D. Suss Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq Recommended Citation Colby Library Quarterly, series 8, no.7, September 1969, p.347-363 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Colby. It has been accepted for inclusion in Colby Quarterly by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Colby. Suss: The Plays of Edwin Arlington Robinson Colby Library Quarterly 347 THE PLAYS OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON By IRVING D. Suss he unfortunate fact is that Edwin Arlington Robinson was T driven to the writing of plays more by his need for money and hope for a quick Broadway success than by any deep ur­ gency to find dramatic expression for his view of life. Years without a poem sold and publication underwritten by friends when his poems did appear in print convinced Robinson that poetry would pay not even for the sauce, let alone the dinner. His sister-in-law and his three young nieces needed his assist­ ance, and the income from his sinecure at the Custonl House in New York evidently could not cover his own expenses dur­ ing the first decade of the century. He saw potentially high profits from the stage as a solution to his financial problems, and he turned as intensely as he could to playwriting. His two published plays, Van Zorn (1914) and The Por­ cupine (1915), were aimed at the commercial theatre, though Robinson rationalized their theatrical and, indeed, their dra­ matic inadequacies by suggesting that their target was rather the reform of the crass inanities of the contemporary theatre.
    [Show full text]
  • Captain Craig"
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1971 The Process of Poetic Exploration in E A Robinson's "Captain Craig" Wendy Burns Tilghman College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Tilghman, Wendy Burns, "The Process of Poetic Exploration in E A Robinson's "Captain Craig"" (1971). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539624730. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-gy0d-xf54 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PROCESS OF POETIC EXPLORATION IN E. A. ROBINSON’S ,rCAPTAIN CRAIG'r A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Wendy Burns Tilghman 1971 ProQuest Number: 10625165 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest, ProQuest 10625165 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lincoln Tradition in American Poetry By
    THE LINCOLN TRADITION IN AMERICAN POETRY BY CELESTINE B. TEGEDER A THESIS» Submitted to the Faculty of The Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English OMAHA, 1941 Thesis Approved By TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction ...... .............................. ... i Chapter I. WALT WHITMAN When Lilaos Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d. ..... 1 0, Captain, ISy Captain!.......................... 3 II. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Ode Recited at the Harvard Commemoration. ..... 11 III. EDWIN MARKHAM Lincoln, the Man of the People. ................... 18 IV. EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON The Master........................................ 23 V. NICHOLAS VACIIEL LINDSAY Abraham Lincoln Whiles at Midnight ................. 29 The Litany of the Heroes................ 33 VI. EDGAR LEE MASTERS Autochthon. ..... ................ ...... 34 VII. JOHN GOULD FLETCHER Lincoln.................. ........................ 38 VIII. STEPHEN VINCENT BENET John Brown's Body................................. 43 IX. CONCLUSION.........................................50 Bibliography 56 INTRODUCTION New countries, such as our own United States, usually do not have a developed folk-lore nor an abundance of national legends. It is only after centuries that ancient tales and certain heroic figures become a part of the literature of a race or nation. United States history is rich in the names of outstanding characters and incidents on whioh to build such stories and even myths. We need only to read of the Colonial settlements, the Revolutionary War, the settling of the West, etc., to see that since the very beginnings of our government there have been women and men who have been prominent because of their achievements on behalf of an ideal. Names such as George ’Washington, Roger Williams, William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Dolly Madison, Barbara Frietchie, U, S.
    [Show full text]
  • Highlights of American Literature. INSTITUTION United States Information Agency, Washington, DC
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 417 420 CS 216 258 AUTHOR Bode, Carl TITLE Highlights of American Literature. INSTITUTION United States Information Agency, Washington, DC. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. PUB DATE 1995-00-00 NOTE 291p.; "First published 1981; this edition reprinted 1995." PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Learner (051) Guides Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Authors; Discussion (Teaching Technique); English (Second Language); Literary History; Literary Styles; *Novels; *Poetry; Questioning Techniques; *Reading Materials; Secondary Education; *United States Literature IDENTIFIERS Historical Background ABSTRACT Intended for high-intermediate/advanced level students of English as a foreign language, this book contains selections from the wide range of American literature, from its beginnings to the modern period. Each section begins with a general introduction to the literary period, and then presents essays about individual authors, selections from the author's writings, discussion questions at the end of each prose selection or group of poems, and discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The "National Beginnings" section discusses Benjamin Franklin, Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Philip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The "Romanticism and Reason" section discusses Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Henry James, "The
    [Show full text]