Angol
isahistoricalaccount writteninthelate19thcentury. Thebookprovidesanengagingoverview of the lives and contributions of four significant figures in American liter ature: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, and Ba yard Taylor. Each author's journey is explored, detailing their childhood in fluences, early works, and lasting impacts on American literary culture. The openingofthebookfocusesprimarilyonWashingtonIrving,recountinghis birth during a pivotal moment in American history and his family's contri butions to the Revolutionary War. It highlights his childhood in New York City and the formative experiences that shaped his literary career, including his early travels and literary experiments. With vivid descriptions of Irving's youthful adventures, the narrative sets the stage for understanding how his surroundings and experiences would inform his later works, establishing a foundation that underpins Irving's reputation as America's first major author.
Taylorwasborn in thecountry village ofKennettSquare,Chester County, Pennsylvania, Jan. 11, 1825, "the year when the first locomotive successfully performed its trial trip. I am, therefore," he says, "just as old as the railroad." He was descended from Robert Taylor, a rich Friend, or Quaker, whohadcometoPennsylvaniawithWilliamPennin1681,andset tled near Brandywine Creek. Bayard's grandfather married a Lutheran of pure German blood, and on that account was expelled from the Society of Friends, which at that time had very strict rules regarding the marriage of its members. AlthoughthefamilystillusedthepeculiarspeechoftheQuakers, and clung to the Quaker principles of peace and order, none of them ever returned to the society
