" A newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, kept a standing
offer to publish poetry for one dollar a line.
EDUCATIONAL HANDICAPS.--Before the war there was no universal free common
school system, as at present, to prepare for higher institutions. The
children of rich families had private tutors, but the poor frequently went
without any schooling. William Gilmore Simms (p. 306) says that he "learned
little or nothing" at a public school, and that not one of his instructors
could teach him arithmetic. Lack of common educational facilities decreased
readers as well as writers.
Until after the war, whatever literature was read by the cultured classes
was usually English. The classical school of Dryden and Pope and the
eighteenth century English essayists were especially popular. American
literature was generally considered trashy or unimportant. So conservative
was the South in its opinions, that individuality in literature was often
considered an offense against good taste. This was precisely the attitude
of the classical school in England during a large part of the eighteenth
century. Until after the Civil War, therefore, the South offered few
inducements to follow literature as a profession.
Pages:
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370