What does he introduce to give an
American color to his work?
POETRY.--In the selections read from Dwight, Barlow, and Trumbull, what
general characteristics impress you? Do these poets belong to the classic
or the romantic school? What English influences are manifest? What
qualities in Freneau's lyrics show a distinct advance in American poetry?
CHAPTER III
THE NEW YORK GROUP
A NEW LITERARY CENTER.--We have seen that Massachusetts supplied the
majority of the colonial writers before the French and Indian War. During
the next period, Philadelphia came to the front with Benjamin Franklin and
Charles Brockden Brown. In this third period, New York forged ahead, both
in population and in the number of her literary men. Although in 1810 she
was smaller than Philadelphia, by 1820 she had a population of 123,706,
which was 15,590 more than Philadelphia, and 80,408 more than Boston.
This increase in urban population rapidly multiplied the number of readers
of varied tastes and developed a desire for literary entertainment, as well
as for instruction. Works like those of Irving and Cooper gained wide
circulation only because of the new demands, due to the increasing
population, to the decline in colonial provincialism, and to the growth of
the new national spirit.
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