Through those
eastern windows came in, and still comes in, the sunlight to
illumine the American spirit. To decry the literatures of the
Orient and of Greece and Rome as something now outgrown by
America, is simply to close the eastern windows, to narrow our
conception of civilization to merely national and contemporaneous
terms. It is as provincial to attempt this restriction in
literature as it would be in world-politics. We must have all the
windows open in our American writing, free access to ideas,
knowledge of universal standards, perception of universal law.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
An authoritative account of American Literature to the close of
the Revolution is given in M. C. Tyler's "History of American
Literature during the Colonial Time," 2 volumes (1878) and
"Literary History of the American Revolution," 2 volumes (1897).
For a general survey see Barrett Wendell, "A Literary History of
America" (1900), W. P. Trent, "American Literature" (1903), G. E.
Woodberry, "America in Literature" (1903), W. C. Bronson, "A
Short History of American Literature" (1903), with an excellent
bibliography, W.
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