Initial Studies in American Letters by Henry A. Beers
page 106 of 340 (31%)
page 106 of 340 (31%)
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Poe. Though disfigured by affectation and obscurity, many of
Channing's verses were distinguished by true poetic feeling, and the last line of his little piece, _A Poet's Hope_, "If my bark sink 'tis to another sea," has taken a permanent place in the literature of transcendentalism. The private organ of the transcendentalists was the _Dial_, a quarterly magazine, published from 1840 to 1844, and edited by Emerson and Margaret Fuller. Among its contributors, besides those already mentioned, were Ripley, Thoreau, Parker, James Freeman Clarke, Charles A. Dana, John S. Dwight, C. P. Cranch, Charles Emerson, and William H. Channing, another nephew of Dr. Channing. It contained, along with a good deal of rubbish, some of the best poetry and prose that has been published in America. The most lasting part of its contents were the contributions of Emerson and Thoreau. But even as a whole it was a unique way-mark in the history of our literature. From time to time Emerson collected and published his lectures under various titles. A first series of _Essays_ came out in 1841, and a second in 1844; the _Conduct of Life_ in 1860, _Society and Solitude_ in 1870, _Letters and Social Aims_ in 1876, and the _Fortune of the Republic_ in 1878. In 1847 he issued a volume of _Poems_, and 1865 _Mayday and Other Poems_. These writings, as a whole, were variations on a single theme, expansions and illustrations of the philosophy set forth in _Nature_, and his early addresses. They were strikingly original, rich in thought, filled with wisdom, with lofty morality and spiritual religion. Emerson, said Lowell, first "cut the cable that bound us to English thought and gave us a chance at the dangers and |
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