The Poets and Poetry of America
Encyclopedia
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of American poetry collected by American literary critic and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold
Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...
. It was first published in 1842 and went into several editions throughout the 19th century.
Background
Rufus Griswold had begun work as a critic working for the New York TribuneNew York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
and Philadelphia's Daily Standard and earned his reputation as a vindictive and savage literary critic. He was also a proponent of American poetry. He claimed to have read every American poem published before 1850—an estimated 500 volumes. His nationalism was well-known. Publisher Evert Augustus Duyckinck
Evert Augustus Duyckinck
Evert Augustus Duyckinck was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York.-Life and work:...
noted that "the thought [of a national literature] seems to have entered and taken possession of [Griswold's] mind with the force of monomania
Monomania
In 19th century psychiatry, monomania is a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind. Emotional monomania is that in which the patient is obsessed with only one emotion or several related to it; intellectual monomania is that which is related to only one kind of delirious idea...
". His anthology was part of his ongoing efforts to promote distinctly American poetry.
Publication history
Lydia Sigourney
Lydia Huntley Sigourney , née Lydia Howard Huntley, was a popular American poet during the early and mid 19th century. She was commonly known as the "Sweet Singer of Hartford". Most of her works were published with just her married name Mrs. Sigourney.-Early life:Mrs...
, three by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, and 45 by Charles Fenno Hoffman
Charles Fenno Hoffman
Charles Fenno Hoffman was an American author, poet and editor associated with the Knickerbocker group in New York.-Biography:...
. It gave prominent space to some of the most popular poets of the day, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
and William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...
. The collection was dedicated to Washington Allston
Washington Allston
Washington Allston was an American painter and poet, born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting...
.
The book proved popular enough that it went through three editions within only six months. A minor poet from Virginia named Daniel Bryan wrote of his disbelief at the rapidity with which the book went into new editions. "Is there not some of the 'trickery of trade' in this?—What was the am[ount] of the 1st edition—and may not the 2nd ed. have been printed at the same time the 1st was?" After Griswold's death, Richard Henry Stoddard
Richard Henry Stoddard
Richard Henry Stoddard was an American critic and poet.-Biography:Richard Henry Stoddard was born on July 2, 1825, in Hingham, Massachusetts. His father, a sea-captain, was wrecked and lost on one of his voyages while Richard was a child, and the lad went in 1835 to New York City with his mother,...
revised the book and issued several new editions later in the 19th century.
Critical response
Lewis Gaylord Clark
Lewis Gaylord Clark was an American editor and the brother of Willis Gaylord Clark.-Biography:Clark was born in Otisco, New York in 1808. He succeeded Charles Fenno Hoffman as editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, a role he held for over 25 years...
considered it important to "become incorporated into the permanent undying literature of our age and nation".
Some critics, however, did not agree with Griswold's selections. The Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
-based Poet's Magazine criticized the "undue prominence" granted to lesser poetaster
Poetaster
Poetaster, like rhymester or versifier, is a contemptuous name often applied to bad or inferior poets. Specifically, poetaster has implications of unwarranted pretentions to artistic value. The word was coined in Latin by Erasmus in 1521...
s, including Edgar Poe. Charles Fenno Hoffman, for example, was a friend of Griswold and, despite having little literary reputation, was granted twice as much space as any other poet. Responding to the idea that The Poets and Poetry of America represented the best that the United States had to offer, one British editor concluded, "with two or three exceptions, there is not a poet of mark in the whole Union". Modern scholars have dismissed the anthology as a "graveyard of poets" because many of the writers collected are now virtually unknown. Literary historian Fred Lewis Pattee called the book a "collection of poetic trash" and "voluminous worthlessness".
In his day, The Poets and Poetry of America propelled Griswold to a national spotlight in the 1840s and 1850s. His success led to future anthologies, including Gems from American Female Poets (1842), The Poets and Poetry of England in the Nineteenth Century (1844), The Poets and Poetry of England (1845), Prose Writers of America (1847), and The Female Poets of America (1848).
External links
- ""Griswold's American Poetry" by Edgar A. Poe from The Boston MiscellanyThe Boston MiscellanyThe Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion was a monthly literary and fashion magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts in 1842 and 1843....
, November 1842 - Scanned books of original editions via Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
and Google Books: