Table of Contents

Introduction Sacvan Bercovitch and Neal Dolan; Part I. American Verse Traditions, 1800–1855 Barbara Packer: 1. Neoclassicism: comic and satiric verse; 2. Early narrative and lyric; 3. Transcendentalism; Part II. Poetry and Public Discourse, 1820–1910 Shira Wolosky: Preface: The claims of rhetoric; 1. Modest claims; 2. Claiming the Bible; 3. Poetic language; 4. Plural identities; 5. Walt Whitman: the office of the poet; 6. Emily Dickinson: the violence of the imagination; Chronology Neal Dolan.

Promotional Information

The first complete history of American poetry of the nineteenth century.

About the Author

Sacvan Bercovitch is Powell M. Cabot Research Professor of American Literature at Harvard University.

Reviews

'... this is, without doubt and without any serious rival, the scholarly history for our generation.' Journal of American Studies '... vast and eminently readable survey of twentieth century American literature ...'. Use of English