| Description | Intended as a brief review of American poetry, Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's address includes extracts to illustrate the 'different styles & various phases of thought'. She questions criticism of foreign literary works, suggesting that the works of Walt Whitman (1819-1892), William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) and James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) were equal to those of Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Taylor Cadbury provides a short biography of Whitman with reference to his literary works which includes lengthy extracts from his poetry. She compares the poetry of Bryant with that of Wordsworth, referring particularly to Bryant's 'Forest Hymn' and providing a detailed description of Bryant's poem 'Sella'. Taylor Cadbury concludes her address with a short section exploring the poetry of Lowell. |