Four Americans: Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson, Whitman — A Closer Reading

Roosevelt's Literary Voice

Beers argues that Roosevelt's writing is most effective when he describes nature and hunting. He quotes old hunting songs and notes that Roosevelt becomes a poet when among wild creatures. The essay emphasizes Roosevelt's vivid personality, which Beers claims is preserved in his books. Beers also observes that Roosevelt's active life—as Civil Service Commissioner, Police Commissioner, Governor, and President—did not prevent him from producing a substantial body of work. The tone is admiring but critical, noting that Roosevelt's style is direct and energetic, matching his public image.

Hawthorne's Puritan Inheritance

Beers traces Hawthorne's conservatism and fatalism to his Puritan roots. He notes that Hawthorne preferred seventeenth-century Puritan divinity to modern Unitarian sermons, finding the former 'warm with a deep belief.' Beers points out that Hawthorne's characters, like Hollingsworth in The Blithedale Romance, are often one-ideaed reformers whose plans are vague. Hawthorne's style, Beers claims, is 'the growth of reverie, solitude, leisure,' and avoids slang, dialect, or colloquial idioms. This careful refinement, Beers suggests, can feel artificial to modern readers accustomed to naturalism.

Emerson and the Concord Circle

Beers's essay on Emerson, titled 'A Pilgrim in Concord,' likely examines Emerson's role in the Transcendentalist movement. The excerpts do not provide full text, but the title suggests a focus on Emerson's connection to Concord and his philosophical influence. Beers may contrast Emerson's optimism with Hawthorne's fatalism, as hinted in the Hawthorne section where Beers mentions Emerson's sentence about John Brown. The essay probably explores Emerson's essayistic style and his impact on American thought.

Whitman's Free Verse Legacy

The final essay, 'A Wordlet about Whitman,' is brief but significant. Beers likely addresses Whitman's unconventional poetic form and his celebration of the self. The title 'Wordlet' suggests a concise treatment, perhaps acknowledging Whitman's expansive style while offering a compact analysis. Beers may compare Whitman's democratic voice to Roosevelt's energetic prose or Hawthorne's refined periods, highlighting the diversity of American literary expression.

Beers's essays, originally published in the Yale Review, offer a snapshot of early twentieth-century literary criticism. Readers interested in how a contemporary critic assessed these iconic figures will find value in Beers's observations on style and temperament. The collection is best approached as a series of character sketches rather than comprehensive biographies, with each essay focusing on the author's written voice and its connection to their life and times.

The rain was making that hush against the windows as I finished Beers’s chapter on Roosevelt, his voice all vivid and immediate. The thought lingered of a president who wrote from the body, not the desk. That afternoon, I found myself pulled toward the quieter polish of a different man’s state papers, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 4, part 1: William Henry Harrison — Reading Notes, and the contrast felt almost accidental, like finding a sealed envelope in an old coat.