21, 25, 33, 35, 37.) Which of Whitman's references to
nature do you consider the most poetic? How does _O Captain! My Captain!_
differ in form from the other poems indicated for reading? What qualities
in his verse impress you most?
A GLANCE BACKWARD
Lack of originality is a frequent charge against young literatures, but the
best foreign critics have testified to the originality of the Knickerbocker
Legend, of Leatherstocking, of the great Puritan romances, in which the Ten
Commandments are the supreme law, of the work of that southern wizard who
has taught a great part of the world the art of the modern short story and
who has charmed the ear of death with his melodies, of America's unique
humor, so conspicuous in the service of reform and in rendering the New
World philosophy doubly impressive.
American literature has not only produced original work, but it has also
delivered a worthy message to humanity. Franklin has voiced an unsurpassed
philosophy of the practical. Emerson is a great apostle of the ideal, an
unexcelled preacher of New World self-reliance. His teachings, which have
become almost as widely diffused as the air we breathe, have added a cubit
to the stature of unnumbered pupils.
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