Studies 1. What was there in the nature of Transcendentalism that made its influence only evanescent ? 2. Who were the leaders in the Brook Farm experiment? Speak of the character of each. 3. Read Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance in order to realize more vividly the nature and causes of failure of the Brook Farm experiment. Bear in mind, as you read, that the character of Zenobia is to an extent drawn from that of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 4. Can you find the Transcendental attitude revealed in The Great Stone Face? Do you think that Hawthorne is too prone to indulge in imaginative flights and mysterious vagaries? 5. Tell briefly in your own words what constituted the essence of Emerson's philosophy. Can you find points of similarity between him and Carlyle? Which of the two writers seems to you more lucid and forcible? 6. Give a brief sketch of Thoreau's personality. Why is it well for the world that such temperaments as that of Thoreau are rare? Contrast Thoreau's interest in nature with that of Darwin. 7. Describe the practical reform movement which developed from the same earnest spirit that manifested itself impractically in Transcendentalism. 8. Reread the selection from Channing. Would you not think that from the writer's own experience he was peculiarly well fitted to say that "no empire is so valuable as the empire of one's self"? Can you find this thought expressed in other form in Emerson's essay on Self-Reliance? 9. Why are the speeches of the three great orators, Sumner, Parker and Phillips, not considered permanent literature? 10. Can you think of any other instance in history where a book was so obviously influential in causing reform as Mrs. Stowe's story? II. Account for the fact that Whittier's later poems are far more artistic than his slavery poems. 12. What is meant by the revival or Renaissance that took place in New England? 13. Reread carefully Barrett Wendell's summary of the development of this revival. Describe in chronological order the various phases of the Renaissance; characterize briefly the representative writers connected with each phase; try to get such a definite idea of the personality of each that you can comprehend what is meant by saying that they were "so dissimilar, and sometimes so antagonistic, that human friendship between them, or even mutual understanding, was hardly possible;" and get clearly in mind the common. qualities which bound them together. New England's Golden Age We have now reached the culmination of New England's golden age of literature and so far have taken little account of four men who rank with Emerson and Whittier as the first among American men of letters. These are Hawthorne, Holmes, Longfellow and Lowell. Of Hawthorne an account will be found in Part Two, page 191. Biographical sketches of the others will be found as follows: Holmes, Part Eight, page 263. Numerous selections from their works may be readily found by consulting the Index. Longfellow is undoubtedly first in popularity as Lowell is in scholarly excellence. Emerson may be considered first in profundity of thought and in power of phraseology. Longfellow, on the other hand, is the strong and self-reliant soul whose sweetness of disposition and loveliness of character are no less conspicuous in his writings than Emerson's were in his daily life. Holmes is first as a genial, altogether happy poet of occa sion, whose lyrical expression is usually gay and rollicking, though ofttimes serenely beautiful. Lowell is the scholar, the critic, the earnest man of affairs, but the master of elegant phrase and vigorous expression. It is not worth our while to try to rank these men in order of greatness; let them all stand first, a sextet of excellence, Whittier, Holmes, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lowell and Emerson. America can never cease to be proud of these her greatest literary men, great in the power of their writings, equally great in the purity and sublimity of personal character. The table on page 260 shows graphically for comparison the principal dates in the lives of the six. How intimately are they connected! All were born in the first nineteen years of the century and for forty-five years all were living.. Hawthorne was the first to go, at the comparatively youthful age of sixty; Longfellow next at seventy-five; Emerson lived to be seventy-nine, Lowell was eighty-two, Whittier and Holmes both eighty-five. Longfellow and Whittier were born. in the same year, Emerson and Longfellow died in the same year. But the association of these men was not merely one of dates; they were acquaintances and friends and mention one another often in their writings; in fact Holmes wrote a very readable biography of Emerson, and Longfellow and Lowell exchanged beautiful sympathetic poems in hours of bereave |