Contemporary American Literature Part 55

+James Whitcomb Riley+--poet.

Born at Greenfield, Indiana, 1853, of Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. Educated in the public schools, but received many higher honorary degrees. Died in 1916.

Mr. Riley came to be the representative poet of his native state, the "Hoosier poet," and many of his poems are written in the dialect of Indiana, but his reputation is national. His numerous poems were collected and published in ten volumes, as _Complete Works_, in 1916. For detailed bibliography, cf. _Cambridge_, III (IV), 651.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Cambridge.

Pattee.

Atlan. 118 ('16): 503. (Nicholson.) Bookm. 20 ('04): 18; 33 ('11): 67 (portrait); 35 ('12): 357 (portrait), 637; 38 ('13): 163 (portrait), 598; 44 ('16): 22 (portraits), 58, 79.

Cur Lit. 41 ('06): 160 (portrait); 57 ('14): 425 (portrait).

Cur. Op. 61 ('16): 196 (portrait).

J. Educ. 84 ('16): 149, 298.

Lit. Digest, 47 ('13): 782; 53 ('16): Aug. 1, pp. 304 (portrait), 408; 51 ('15): 730.

Nation, 97 ('13): 332.

No. Am. 204 ('16): 421.

Outlook, 111 ('15): 249, 273 (portrait), 396; 113 ('16): 778.

R. of Rs. 54 ('16): 327 (portrait).

World's Work, 22 ('11): 14777 (portrait); 25 ('13): 565.

Yale R. n.s. 9 ('20): 395.

+Charles George Douglas Roberts+--novelist, poet, Nature writer.

Born at Douglas, New Brunswick, 1860. Studied at the University of New Brunswick, 1876. Has been a teacher, editor, soldier. In France during the War.

Major Roberts has published many volumes of poems, besides novels and animal stories.

For bibliography, see _Who's Who_ (English). For reviews, see _Book Review Digest_, 1914, 1916, 1919.

+Edwin Arlington Robinson+--poet.

Born at Head Tide, Maine, 1869. Educated at Gardiner, Maine, on the Kennebec River ("Tilbury Town"). Studied at Harvard, 1891-3. Struggled in various ways to make a living in New York, even working in the subway, while publishing his first poems. His _Captain Craig_, 1902, attracted the attention of Roosevelt, who gave the author a position in the New York Custom House, which he held 1905-10. Since then he has been able to give his entire time to poetry.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

1. A good introduction to Mr. Robinson's work is Miss Lowell's review of his _Collected Works_, in the _Dial_, 72 ('22): 130. Although Miss Lowell's contention that Mr. Robinson is our greatest living poet would be disputed by some critics, her article suggests many points of departure in the study of his very important contribution to American poetry.

2. Divide Mr. Robinson's work into two groups: (1) poems of which the material is based upon literature; (2) those of which it comes from his own life experience. Is it possible to say now which of these two groups has the best chance of long endurance? Can you decide how far literature has had a good effect upon Mr. Robinson's work, and how far it has lessened the value of his poetry?

3. Consider as a group the poems that grow out of Mr. Robinson's New England origin. In what ways is he characteristic of New England?

Compare his work with that of Mr. Frost in this respect.

4. Compare and contrast Mr. Robinson's portraits of persons with names as t.i.tles with similar portraits in the _Spoon River Anthology_. This type of verse seems to have been developed independently by both poets.

5. An interesting study could be made of the influence on Robinson of Crabbe; another, of the influence of Hardy.

6. Another interesting study might grow out of the consideration of Robinson as a poet born twenty years too soon. How much has the temper of his work been determined by the fact that he had to wait so long for recognition?

7. What are the main features of Mr. Robinson's philosophy as suggested in the poems?

8. Can you find many poems that sing? What is to be said of the poet's mastery of rhythms?

9. After reading the best of Mr. Robinson's work, it is interesting to look up the comments of various admirers of it published on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, in the _New York Times_, December 21, 1919, or the quotations from this article in _Poetry_, 15 ('20): 265, and to see how far your judgment bears out these extravagant statements.

10. The influence of Robinson's work on younger American poets, especially on Lindsay and Sandburg, makes an interesting study.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Torrent and the Night Before. 1896. (Privately printed.) The Children of the Night. 1897.

Captain Craig. 1902.

The Town down the River. 1910.

Van Zorn. 1914. (Play.) The Porcupine. 1915. (Play.) The Man against the Sky. 1916.

Merlin. 1917.

Lancelot. 1919.

The Three Taverns. 1920.

*Collected Poems. 1921.

Avon's Harvest. 1921.

STUDIES AND REVIEWS

Boynton.

Lowell.

Untermeyer.

Atlan. 98 ('06): 330.

Bk. Buyer, 25 ('02): 429.

Bookm. 45 ('17): 429 (portrait); 47 ('18): 551; 50 ('20): 507; 51 ('20): 457.

Chapbook, 1-2, May, 1920: 1. (Fletcher.) Dial, 34 ('03): 18; 72 ('22): 130. (Amy Lowell.) Fortn. 86 ('06): 429.

Forum, 45 ('11): 80; 51 ('14): 305.

Ind. 55 ('03): 446.

Lit. Digest, 64 ('20): Jan. 10: p. 32 (portrait), 40.

Nation, 75 ('02): 465; 111 ('20): 453.

New Eng. M. 33 ('05): 425.

New Repub. 2 ('15): 267; 7 ('16): 96 (Amy Lowell); 23 ('20): 259.

No. Am. 211 ('20): 121.

Outlook, 105 ('13): 736, 744 (portrait); 112 ('16): 786; 123 ('19): 535.

Poetry, 8 ('16): 46; 10 ('17): 211; 15 ('20): 265; 16 ('20): 217; 20 ('22): 278.

Scrib. M. 66 ('19): 763.