Some of his nature poetry ranks
with the best produced in America. Thoreau, the poet-naturalist, shows how
to find enchantment in the world of nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the
great romance writers of the world, has given the Puritan almost as great a
place in literature as in history. In his short stories and romances, this
great artist paints little except the trial and moral development of human
souls in a world where the Ten Commandments are supreme.
Longfellow taught the English-speaking world to love simple poetry. He
mastered the difficult art of making the commonplace seem attractive and of
speaking to the great common heart. His ability to tell in verse stories
like _Evangeline_ and _Hiawatha_ remains unsurpassed among our singers.
Whittier was the great antislavery poet of the North. Like Longfellow, he
spoke simply but more intensely to that overwhelming majority whose lives
stand most in need of poetry. His _Snow-Bound_ makes us feel the moral
greatness of simple New England life. The versatile Lowell has written
exquisite nature poetry in his lyrics and _Vision of Sir Launfal_ and _The
Biglow Papers_. He has produced America's best humorous verse in _The
Biglow Papers_ and _A Fable for Critics_.
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