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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page essay that discusses this period in American literary history. The wrier defines the period and discusses it in terms of the work of Emerson, Whitman, Lincoln, Dickinson and others. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khamren.rtf
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a "rebirth of some earlier literary greatness" and, in this case, America was achieving for the first time its own distinctive literary character (Woodlief). Throughout the early years of the
new republic, writers and artists were keenly aware that their art drew heavily on Americas European heritage. The "renaissance" to which Matthiessen refers was a period during which critics
and artists alike sensed a "flowering" and an "excitement over human possibilities" that were coming to fruition in the young nation and this is the factor that caused this period
to be termed a "renaissance" (Woodlief). While there was evidence of a new "American-ness" emerging in the arts in general, this factor was particularly evident in regards to American literature
(Baym, et al 390). A contemporary review of Melvilles Moby-Dick, as published in the popular nineteenth century magazine Harpers New Monthly, points out that a lack of originality
had "long been the just and standing reproach to American literature," as the "best of its writers were but second-hand Englishmen" (Baym, et al 390). However, the review goes
on to admit that with writer such as Poe, Hawthorne, Melville and Emerson, America had come into its own identity, as these authors were not derivative of any European template.
This is not to say that the influence of European authors was not discernible in the work of these authors. For example, Melvilles sentence structure frequently resembled that of
whatever author he had most recently read-such as "Shakespeare, Milton, Burton, Taylor" etc. (Baym, et a 391). Also, American authors frequently drew on European source material, such as the way
that Irving drew of German folk tales when writing "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (Baym, et al 391). Nevertheless, in terms of content and theme, there
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