Existing comment:
Earlier American Writers:
"His mind is the horizon beyond which, at present, we do not see."
-- Emerson
The New England philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) felt that Shakespeare spoke for modern man. In his famous essay on Shakespeare he asked, "What point of morals, of manners, ... of the conduct of life, has he not settled?" A copy of Shakeaspeare's Works owned by Emerson is on display here.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) met with a co-ed Shakespeare Club, and her poetry and letters are full of echoes of his works. We know Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) best as the author of Little Women, but she wrote many short stories including one for children, "Little Pyramus and Thisbe," inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Herman Melville (1819-1891), author of Moby Dick, represents the ambiguity many American writers have felt towards Shakespeare. Though he derided the "absolute and unconditional adoration of Shakespeare," he recognized the possibilities of Shakespeare's genius in America saying, "men not very much inferior to Shakespeare, are this day being born on the banks of the Ohio." His own careful study of Shakespeare is evident in the 7-volume edition of Shakespeare he annotated. |