Poetry from early America that reveals the spirit, scenes, and turbulence of the period.
America did not declare independence in its poetry as quickly or as dramatically as in politics. It took time for the new nation to free itself from the many and widely contrasting traditions, customs, codes, and cultures it had inherited, and expressed itself through scores of imitators before it found its own characteristic way of thinking, reacting, and writing.
Here is the poetry of early America, revealing the spirit, the scenes, and the turbulence of the period, and setting forth the works of more than 40 accomplished poets, many of whom are forgotten to all but the literary historian. This collection is devoted to the expanding spirit as well as the formative genius of America.