Richard Henry Stoddard. Works. Complete Poems. 1 vol. His verse appeared in book form originally as follows: Footprints, 1849; Poems, 1852; Songs of Summer, 1857; The King’s Bell, 1862; Abraham Lincoln: an Horatian Ode, 1865; The Book of the East, and Other Poems, 1871; The Lion’s Cub, with Other Verse, 1890.

Collections

Boynton, Percy H. American Poetry, pp. 542–554, 680–684.

Stedman and Hutchinson. Library of American Literature, Vol. VIII, pp. 226–238.

Biography

Recollections Personal and Literary, by Richard Henry Stoddard. Ripley Hitchcock, editor. 1903.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Works. The Writings of, in 9 vols. 1907. (Vols. I–II, Poetry; Vols. III–IX, Prose.) The best single volume of the poetry is Poems. 1906. His works appeared in book form originally as follows: The Bells, 1855; The Ballad of Babie Bell, 1856; Daisy’s Necklace, 1857; Pampinea and Other Poems, 1861; Out of his Head, 1862; The Story of a Bad Boy, 1869; Marjorie Daw, and Other People, 1873; Prudence Palfrey, 1874; Cloth of Gold, 1874; Flower and Thorn, 1876; The Queen of Sheba, 1877; The Stillwater Tragedy, 1880; From Ponkapog to Pesth, 1883; Mercedes, and Later Lyrics, 1883; Wyndham Towers, 1889; The Sisters’ Tragedy, 1891; Two Bites at a Cherry, 1893; An Old Town by the Sea, 1893; Unguarded Gates, and Other Poems, 1895; Later Lyrics, 1896; Judith and Holofernes, 1896.

Collection

Stedman and Hutchinson. Library of American Literature, Vol. IX, pp. 377–399.

Bibliography

A chronological list of Aldrich’s works is appended to the Life. See Biography, below.

Biography

The Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich is by Ferris Greenslet. 1908. See also The Story of a Bad Boy, by Aldrich himself.

Edmund Clarence Stedman. Works. The Poems of. 1908. These appeared in book form originally as follows: The Prince’s Ball, 1860; Poems Lyrical and Idyllic, 1860; The Battle of Bull Run, 1861; Alice of Monmouth, 1863; The Blameless Prince, and Other Poems, 1869; Victorian Poets, 1875; Hawthorne and Other Poems, 1877; Poets of America, 1885; The Nature and Elements of Poetry, 1892; A Victorian Anthology, 1895; An American Anthology, 1900; Mater Coronata, 1901.

Bibliography

An excellent chronological list is contained in Vol. II of the Life.

Biography

The Life and Letters is by Laura Stedman and George M. Gould. 1910. 2 vols. See also A New England Childhood: the Story of the Boyhood of Edmund Clarence Stedman. Margaret Fuller. 1916.

Richard Watson Gilder. Works. The Poems of. Household Edition. 1908. These appeared in book form originally as follows: The New Day, 1875; The Celestial Passion, 1878; Lyrics, 1878; The Poet and his Master, and Other Poems, 1878; Two Worlds, and Other Poems, 1891; Great Remembrance, and Other Poems, 1893; For the Country, 1897; In Palestine and Other Poems, 1898; Poems and Inscriptions, 1901; A Christmas Wreath, 1903; In the Heights, 1905; A Book of Music, 1906; Fire Divine, 1907; Lincoln the Leader, 1909; Grover Cleveland, 1910.

Collection

Stedman and Hutchinson. Library of American Literature, Vol. X, pp. 252–259.

Biography

Letters of Richard Watson Gilder. Rosamond Gilder, editor. 1906.

TOPICS AND PROBLEMS

Read the biographical passages cited in the text relative to the difference of literary atmosphere in New York and Boston. Read W. D. Howells’s “A Hazard of New Fortunes” for a further contrast between the two cities.

Read Stoddard’s poems with a view to marking definite literary influences as shown in poems which seem evidently imitative.

Read a group of the four-line and eight-line poems of Aldrich and compare them in spirit and execution with similar bits by Stoddard and by Emerson.

Read Stedman’s critical essays on one or two of the New England poets and on two or three of his fellow New Yorkers. Read his essay on Walt Whitman. Does Stedman’s own verse confirm the theory of his criticisms of Whitman?

Read Gilder’s poems in the newer verse forms and compare them with one of the contemporary poets mentioned in the last chapter of this book.

Is there a legitimate connection to be mentioned between Gilder’s poems on civic themes and the movement for better citizenship in the 1890’s? Can you cite political events and characters and novels or plays on political life which belong to this period?