Relation to English Literature. - The literature produced in that part of America known as the United States did not begin as an independent literature. The early colonists were Englishmen who brought with them their own language, books, and modes of thought, England had a world-famous literature before her sons established a permanent settlement across the Atlantic. Shakespeare had died four years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. When an American goes to Paris he can neither read the books, nor converse with' the citizens, if he knows no language but his own. Let him cross to London, and he will find that, although more than three hundred years have elapsed since the first colonists came to America, he immediately feels at home, so far as the language and literature are concerned.For nearly two hundred years after the first English settlements in America, the majority of the works read there were written by English authors. The hard struggle necessary to obtain a foothold inTable of Contents CHAPTER I; PAGB; Colonial Literature9; CHAPTER II; The Emergence of a Nation 65; CHAPTER III; The New York Group 107; CHAPTER IV; The New England Group153; CHAPTER V; Southern Literature287; CHAPTER VI; Western Literature341; CHAPTER VII; The Eastern Realists 367; A Glance Backward396; Supplementary List of Authors and their Chief Works 399 Index423About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text.