National Literature the Exponent of National Character [pp. 201-225]

National Literature, the
England like that which the literature of Rome bore to the literature of Greece; to be comparatively deficient both in originality and in elegance..
So far as the charge of a lack of refinement is true, the
character and circumstances of the early fathers of our republic
will serve to account for it, while the acknowledged elegance of
many of our living writers proves that it has already lost much
of its force.
The order of our literary development was just the reverse of
that of classical antiquity and of England. In them, there was
first the development of the imaginative faculties; in us, of practical thought. The noblest poem of antiquity was produced in the
infancy of the nation, and is colourrd with the rosy light of the
early morning. Our first literature, on the contrary, was
almost exclusively confined to the domain of practical theology
and political oratory. Springing out of urgent circumstances,
it is eminently direct, bold and business-like; and to this fact
mainly may we impute the reputation of our country for utilitarian tendencies in literature. It was not until times comparatively recent, that the nation has enjoyed the repose necessary to the.. production of the finer forms of literature. We
are, besides, too near the period and persons of grand historic
interest for the purposes of the imagination. Literature has
its perspective not less than painting. The spectator may
stand too near in time to an event, as he may stand too near in
space to a picture, to gain the best impression of either. In
gazing on a historical epoch, as on a natural landscape,
"'Tis distance lends enchantment."
Not to speak of the original settlers of our country, who had
to contend with want and the wilderness, the men who laid the
foundations of our government were eminently practical men.
They had a higher and a harder work to do than merely to
study, to enjoy, or even to create the elegances of literature.
It was theirs not indeed to devise, but to develope and perfect
the theory, to define the powers and to regulate the action of
the wisest, happiest and freest government which the world has
ever known. The works of Franklin, the patriot-sage, and of
212
[APRIL