Lawrence High School - Lawrencian Yearbook (Falmouth, MA)

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Lawrence High School THE RISE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE Salutatory: Members of the school commit- tee, our superintendent, our princi- pal, members of the faculty, par- ents, friends, and schoolmates: In behalf of the Lawrence High School Class 1933, I want to take this time to welcome you most sin- cerely and heartily to our gradu- ation exercises. We wish to thank you for your never-failing interest in our welfare and hope that you will enjoy our program tonight. American literature had a strange beginning. Nearly every other nation began its literary work before it had a language in defin- ite form. In America, however, the first author’s language was the language of one of the world’s great literary nations. He knew that within a few months after he finished his book it would be copied and distributed by the print- ing press. The author of the first book was John Smith, who came to James- town, Virginia, in 1607. His work belongs to history rather than to literature, and to England, perhaps, rather than to America. Nearly all of the early writers wrote histori- cal essays, which can not be omit- ted from American literature. Some of the writers were given to boast- ing and exaggeration, but their ac- counts of early life in America are considered trustworthy on the whole. Many modern critics think that the Puritans exerted an unhappy influence upon American literature. This criticism is, however, slowly losing its force as people begin to see that Puritanism did not have an enduring effect. It began to lose its power at the close of the seventeenth century and was com- pletely wiped out in the early part of the eighteenth by the coming of machinery and the rise of the manufacturing class. As the Puritanic spirit died out, Benjamin Franklin came into prom- inence. He was the first American to gain recognition abroad. His work, “The Way to Health, or Pre- face to Poor Richard Improved,” is known as “the most famous piece cf literature the colonies produced.” In the early part of the nine- teenth century, Washington Irving published his “Knickerbocker’s His- tory of New York.” This was the beginning of the period when Am- erican literature reached its high- est peak. Such writers as Cooper, Bryant, Poe, and Hawthorne are included in it. Poe and Hawthorne are ranked highest among Ameri- can writers because of their indi- viduality. Both are best known for their short stories. The slavery question was an im- portant factor in this period, and great statesmen and orators came into prominence. The period fol- lowing the Civil War found no writers to rank with Poe or Haw- thorne. Perhaps the greatest writer fol- lowing the Civil War was Longfel- low. Although probably not the greatest American poet, he is the best known and the best loved in this country. He was a great story teller, and everybody enjoys good stories. Three other well known poets of this period are James Russell Low- ell, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. These writers are popular and well liked, but they are ranked as inferior to Poe and Hawthorne and some other

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The Lawrencian writers of the period just before and during the Civil War. The belief that the American lit- erature of today is inferior to that before 1892 doesn’t mean that in the future it will stay on the down grade. The great output of books and magazines Uxlay Is found to create a strong native literature which will hold its own with that of any other period. The tremend- ous number of stories pouring into magazine offices also shows that the people have the “itch to write” and a genuine interest in self-ex- pression. Only recently our novelist Sin- clair Lewis won the Nobel Prize in literature. This prize is the most famous in the world, and the fact that Sinclair Lewis won it is a great honor for America. Bernard Shaw says that “an asylum for the sane would be empty in America”, but even he, who is the most con- spicuous man of letters in the world today, did not begin to attract the world-wide attention gained by Sinclair Lewis, when he (Shaw) won the same prize in 1925. Although we have little literature to rank with the best of England or some other European countries, this may be attributed to the youth of this country. In the years to come we shall no doubt have many writers who will be ranked among the best of any period or of any country. This will, however, take time and at present we can only hope for the best. THEODORE JONAS. KATHARINE LEE BATES “O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain. For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brother- hood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet. Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness; America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine. Till all success be nobleness. And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brother- hood From sea to shining sea!” This poem, which has become one of our greatest, if not the greatest, national anthem, was written by cur own Katharine Lee Bates who was born in Falmouth. About two years ago, I had the ' pleasure of being able to visit Wel- lesley College. After looking the college grounds and buildings over from the outside, I went into the interior of the administration build- ing. Just off the main lobby, there is an alcove in which this poem is most beautifully illustrated in col- ors. On one side of the alcove, there is a painting which portrays the first verse by showing the “spa- cious skies”, the “purple mountain majesties”, and the “fruited plain”. The first verse is on the right hand