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These writers infused their writing with “fancy, imagination, emotion, nature, individuality and exotica” (The American Experience). Transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism are hallmarks of this era as many of these writers explored man’s relationship to nature and his desire to reach a higher consciousness outside traditional theology.
The Walt Whitman Archive - an impressive site form the University of Virginia with many e-texts of Whitman's works and so much more!
Walt Whitman's World: America Still Needs His Poetry- great editorial piece from the Boston Globe and a must-read if you're researching Whitman!
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Excerpt from Nonfiction: "Preface to the 1855 Edition of Leaves of Grass" -p. 440
Excerpt from Poem: "Song of Myself" -p. 442
Poem: "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" -p. 446
Poem: "By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame” -p. 447
Poem: "I Hear America Singing" -p. 448
Poem: "A Noiseless Patient Spider" -p. 450
Academy of American Poets: "Oh Captain! My Captain!" by Whitman
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott- learn about the author of Little Women and the Alcott family from the Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association.
Hospital Sketches- a compilation of four short stories inspired by Alcott's own experiences.
William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant- great resource with links to many etexts of Bryant's works from Washington State University
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Poem: "Thanatopsis" -p. 277
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson - biographical information and e-text of some of her most famous poems from the Academy of American Poets.
Visit the Emily Dickinson Museum with this link.
Here's an interesting article on Dickinson from The Atlantic.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Poem: "Because I could not stop for Death" -p. 426
Poem: "I heard a Fly buzz - when I died" -p. 428
Poem: "There’s a certain slant of light" -p. 430
Poem: "My life closed twice before its close" -p. 430
Poem: "The Soul selects her own Society" -p. 431
Poem: "The Brain – is wider than the Sky" -p. 432
Poem: "There is a solitude of space " -p. 433
Poem: "Water, is taught by thirst" -p. 434
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson - click here and connect to the Academy of American Poets' page on Emerson.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Excerpt from Essay: “Nature” –p. 390
Excerpt from Essay: "Self-Reliance" -p. 393
Poem: "Concord Hymn" -p. 395
Poem: "The Snowstorm" -p. 396
Margaret Fuller
Margaret Fuller was America's "first true feminist" and a colleague of Emerson, Thoreau and the Alcotts. Click here to learn more about her and explore some of her works.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources
Short Story: "The Minister’s Black Veil" -p. 340
Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Chambered Nautilus" - a Holmes poem from The Academy of American Poets.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Poem: "Old Ironsides" -p. 280
Click here to learn how the Holmes' poetry saved the USS Constitution( also known as Old Ironsides).
USS Constitution" - check out this cool source from the US Navy.
Visit the USS Constitution Museum with this link.
"Old Ironsides" Earns Its Name- a cool resource from Eyewitness to History.
Washington Irving
Read Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - e-text from Project Gutenberg
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Short Story: "The Devil and Tom Walker" -p. 258
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - a collection of his works and some biographical information as well from the Academy of American Poets
"Paul Revere's Ride" - connect to the full e-text of Longfellow's famous poem.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Poem: "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" -p. 275
Herman Melville
Edgar Allan Poe
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum - cool virtual tour and lots of link to great sites to the father of science fiction/horror.
Edgar Allan Poe - biographical information and e-text of some of his most famous poems from the Academy of American Poets.
The Raven: An Interactive Study Resource- great site from www.teachersfirst.com. Thanks to Mrs. Currier for letting us know about this cool site!
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Short Story: "The Fall of the House of Usher" -p. 312
Poem: "The Raven" -p. 330
Audio Book/MP3
Poe's classic short story - "The Tell-Tale Heart" is available as "literature for your eyes and ears" through LoudLit.org! Here are some more works by Poe also available as "literature for your eyes and ears": "Alone", "Annabel Lee", "A Dream within a Dream", "Eldorado", "The Raven".
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe- A collection of Stowe's works from Online Literature.
Books by Stowe Sorted by Popularity- a large collection of e-texts from Project Gutenberg.
Henry David Thoreau
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier- biography and links to some Whittier poems from The American Academy of Poets.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
Excerpt from Poem: "Snowbound" -p. 282
Overall "Text to World" & "Text to Text" Connections for this Literary Period
American Memory Timeline - from the Learning Page at The Library of Congress, this link will help you connect American history to American literature.