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American Common-Place Books of
Poetry and Prose.
1. THE AMERICAN COMMON-PLACE BOOK OF POETRY,
with Occasional Notes. By G. B. Cheever.
2. THE AMERICAN COMMON-PLACE BOOK OF PROSE; a
Collection of Eloquent and Interesting Extracts from the Writings of American
Authors. By G. B. Cheever.
☞ These volumes are selected entirely from American authors, and contain specimens
of American literature from its earliest period to the present day. All the
pieces are of the purest moral character. They are intended as reading books for
the higher classes in seminaries for both sexes, and will be found, it is thought, well
adapted to a department of education in which it is difficult to find a volume of suitable
character. They will also serve as a pleasant mental recreation for the fireside.
They are used in all the leading High Schools in this country, and also in many of
the most distinguished in Great Britain.
“The Common-Place Book of American Poetry.—The Americans complain
bitterly, and with some appearance of justice, that their poets have been undeservedly
neglected by the people of England. This they ascribe to envy, to jealousy, to the
affected contempt for every thing American, once so fashionable among our literary
coxcombs; forgetting that Irving, and Bryant, and Channing, furnish indisputable
proof of the respect shown to transatlantic talent.
“The greater, and far the better part of American poetry, is of the class usually
called occasional and fugitive; and to this cause, principally, must be attributed the
ignorance of our countrymen on the subject. Mr. Cheever has performed a commendable
task in collecting the scattered gems that were spread over a wide extent of
pamphlets and periodicals. Every piece he has inserted well merits a place in the
collection. The preface, and the few notes written by the editor, are very valuable,
and prove that he has a mind capable of comprehending the highest beauties of poetry,
and the still more rare qualification of imaginative taste controlled by critical sagacity.”
London Atheneum.
“It may be said of the American Common-Place Book of Poetry, as the English
reviewers said of the Common-Place Book of Prose, that `it is, in fact, any
thing but common-place.' The selections are made with great impartiality, and are
distinguished by purity of taste, and a pervading tone of devotional feeling. On the
whole, we think such a book could not have been compiled better. Among three or
four hundred extracts, there are none which the tasteful reader regrets to see; there
are none which are not creditable to our moral and intellectual character as a nation.
There is something so purifying in the influence of good poetry, that young people
cannot be too much encouraged in forming a taste for it; and we know of no compilation
more likely to form a correct taste, than Mr. Cheever's American Common-Place
Book of Poetry.'
Massachusetts Journal.
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