WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT AS A LITERARY CRITIC A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY SUPORI M. GOSS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ATLANTA, GEORGIA JUNE 1949 f-.v T PREFACE William Cullen Bryant is both a new man and an old man. He is an old man in the sense that his quotable verse is known and recited by millions of people. He is a new man because his stature as America’s first important literary critic is not so well known and appreciated as it should be. It is the purpose of this thesis to acquaint the reader with Bryant the new man through the presentation of his literary theories regarding the writing and judging of the poetry and prose of selected American, English, German, and Spanish writers. Such a wide range of reading on the part of Bryant attests to his universality of interest and wide knowledge of the literature of other nations as well as that of his own. In concentrating on Bryant’s literary criticism, the writer of this thesis, however, makes use of pertinent non-literary material found in Bryant’s numerous journalistic essays dealing with economic and social problems. She has also drawn on Bryant's poems wherever they throw im¬ portant light on his theory or practice of criticism. In the preparation of this thesis, the writer faced many difficulties, not the least of these difficulties was that dealing with working materials. Materials on Bryant the poet were abundant enough, but those on Bryant the critic were conspicuously few. This difficulty will be readily grasped when one reads such illuminating statements from responsible critics as Harry Hayden Clark and Robert E, Spiller, who say respectively: Although Bryant wrote a great deal on literary theory and was our first important literary critic, there is no extended scholarly interpretation of this phase of his work....» ^Harry Hayden Clark, Manor American Poets (New York, 1936), p.797. Hayden Clark is one of the outstanding scholars in American literature. He is gen¬ eral editor of the American Writers Series, and a specific editor of iii No biography of Bryant has been published in forty years, and critical estimates are not numerous. The standard life still re¬ mains Parke Godwin. A Biography of William Cullen Bryant with Extracts from His Private Correspondence (New York, 1883)....A good critical summary is Tremaine McDowell's introduction to William Cullen Bryant: Representative Selections (1935), pp. xii- lxviii.^ As a consequence of such a de«Tbh of material on Bryant the critic, the writer, plowing virgin fields, had very little in the way of guidance and stimulation from secondary sources, especially those sources having any¬ thing to say about Bryant the oritic. It may be observed throughout this thesis that the writer has, of course, drawn upon the following sources often, and she therefore suggests that readers further interested in Bryant may consult them also: Godwin's Biography and Prose of Bryant, two volumes; McDowell's Bryant; Nevins Evening Post; and Spiller's Literary History of the United States, III. The writer has found in her study of Bryant two main facts : She found that Bryant's critical theories are based upon sound principles. This faot is set forth in Chapter I. Secondly, she found that Bryant is a just and impartial interpreter and appraiser of literature, and that his practical criticism is both relatively consistent with his theory and in comparative harmony with other substantial critics. This second point is discussed in Chapters II and III. In Chapter III,also, the writer has attempted to point up Bryant's significance in American criticism and has suggested the need for further investigation of Bryant as a literary oritio. Whittier, and Thomas Paine among other works. ^Robert E, Spiller, et* al. (eds.), Literary History of the United States (New York, 1948), TXX, 422-27. Spiller's is the most recent authoritative bibliography of American literature and is regarded by competent scholars as the best of its kind in the field. IV The writer wishes to express her deepest gratitude to Professor G. Lewis Chandler, whose patient attention to details and whose passion for perfection have taught the writer a priceless lesson which will be of practical value when applied to other tasks. Further, the writer wishes to thank Mrs. E. B. Hawkins of The Atlanta University Library, for her kind assistance in the search for materials. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter , / 1 Page PREFACE ii I. BRYANT'S THEORY OF POETRY 1 II. BRYANT'S CRITICISM OF POETRY AND PROSE 25 III. BRYANT THE CRITIC: AN EVALUATION . 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY 86 v CHAPTER I BRYANT'S THEORY OF POETRY In tracing the gradual change in the growth and development of Ameri¬ can literary effort from the colonial period to the first half of the nineteenth century, we may note three main facts. First, colonial litera¬ ture was primarily utilitarian and religious in tone and subject matter.’*’ The light and fanciful writings on subjects other than religion were con- 2 sidered the work of the devil. Second, we may observe how prominent the 3 clergy was in dictating the tone and subject matter of literature. This condition prevailed until the turn of the eighteenth century which saw the emergence of the middle classes through the rapidly expanding trade and commerical life of the nation. In turn, these new forces wrested the literary and political reigns of the nation from the old hands. The third observation that may be made with respect to the growth and development of American literary effort up to 1850 is that the American writer, timidly at first, then boldly, attempted all forms of literature such as the essay, the novel, history, the drama, and journalism to the end of expressing his feelings of nationalism. These new feelings, engendered by an extreme self-consciousness which the newly-won political independence and the rich natural resources of the country secured, gave the American writer a 4 cockiness and a boldness which spread to his writings. For the first ^"Ludwig Lewisohn, Expression in America (New York, 1932), p. 7; Moses Coit Tyler, A History of American Literature (New York, 1909), p. 290; Charles Angoff, A Literary History of the American People (New York, 1931), I, 56. 2Ibid., p. 58. 3 Ibid., p. 120. See also Vernon L. Parrington, Main Currents in Ameri¬ can Thought (New York, 1930), III, 302. 4 Moses Coit Tyler, op. cit., p. 560. See also Fred Lewis Patteej The First Century of American Literature, 1770-1870 (New York, 1935), pp. 75-77. 1 2 time -writers began to take writing seriously as a profession and as an art instead of as a sideline serving a utilitatian purpose. There followed, too vitriolic European denunciations which spurred all the more the striv¬ ings of the Americans for a native literature, creative and critical. One of the first exponents of authochtony in American literature was William Cullen Bryent. Well known to Americans and Europeans alike as a competent poet, Bryant was and is yet little known as a distinquished pioneer in the development of American literary criticism.^ Because so little has been done on or known about Bryant as a critic, despite his con¬ scientious and significant efforts in the field of criticism, the main object of this study will to clarify and evaulate Bryant as a critic to the end of illuminating his position in American criticism. In this chapter we shall study the critical theories of Bryant, the first important American critic to legislate rules for the writing of poetry.2 Serving as an incentive to American writers interested in this and other branches of literary effort, Bryant laid the groundwork for an lA awakened interest^definite literary theories to govern forms of literary expression. Tremaine McDowell, William Cullen Bryant (New York, 1935), lvii. Harry Hayden Clark says in this connection: Although Bryant wrote a great deal on literary theory and was our first important literary critic, there is no extended scholarly inter¬ pretation of this phase of his work. Harry Hayden Clark, loc. cit. 2 Thomas Jefferson's Thought on English Prosody was written around 1789, but few people had the privledge of reading it before the twentieth cen¬ tury. Jefferson concluded that Dr. Samuel Johnson's classical prosody, which was based on quantity and not on accent, did not suit English versi¬ fication. As a result, Jefferson worked out an accentual system which be¬ came the first American treatise on English prosody. Gay Wilson Allen, American Prosody (New York, 1935), p. 28. 3 In our study of Bryant's critical theories, it will be necessary and pertinent to our purpose to draw upon certain of his poems from time to time, as they reveal in actual expression the definite principles which he held. For this purpose, then, let us examine first Bryant's "The Poet". This poem embodies many of the cornerstones of the poet's theories which he later broadened and expressed in specific critical essays on poetry. First of all, Bryant does not consider the poet as a race of men set apart from the masses of mankind, nor does he minimize the importance of dili¬ gence and hard work in the writing of enduring poetry, for he saysî Thou, who wouldst wear the name Of poet mid thy brethren of mankind, And clothe in words of flame Thoughts that shall live within the general mind! Deem not the framing of a deathless lay The pastime of a drowsy summer day. Here the author specifically uses "brethren" and "mankind".