Longfellow Reception in 19th-Century America : Iconization and Parodies

这项研究项目有两个目的。首先是收集对朗费罗诗歌的模仿，分析模仿者如何利用朗费罗作品的特点。通过对模仿的研究，这项研究揭示了许多模仿者都是敏锐的评论家，他们能抓住朗费罗微妙的特点。与此同时，很明显，并非所有的模仿都是为了取笑这位流行诗人。有些模仿者，如贝亚德·泰勒，是朗费罗的密友。似乎他们试图通过模仿他的诗来学习他的诗的秘密。此外，还特别关注了一位女诗人菲比·卡里。她的模仿表明，与流行的观点相反，模仿者除了通过部分修改来摧毁原著之外什么也没有要求，她用模仿作为表达论点的手段。在她的案例中，她坚持认为女性不应该逃避现实，而应该有策略地参与生活。这项研究的另一个目的是通过研究所谓的关于这位流行诗人的蜉蝣，来研究朗费罗是如何在他的时代被偶像化的。例如，这项研究调查了引用朗费罗诗歌段落的日记。它们经常被用作礼品书，在19世纪，就像今天的贺卡一样。这些短暂的经历重现了朗费罗的声望。这项研究还发现了克拉伦斯·布丁顿·凯兰，一位20世纪早期被忽视的通俗小说家，在朗费罗批评史上有着重要的意义。凯兰写了一部小说《歌剧帽》，主人公名叫朗费罗。这项研究表明，Kelland理想化的是一种同质文化，就像19世纪的美国一样，在这种文化中，高雅和大众之间没有分层。在凯兰的小说中，朗费罗是这种文化的缩影，并努力将其带回20世纪初的美国。

This research project has been pursued for two objectives. The first is to collect parodies of Longfellow's poems to analyze how parodists take advantage of the characteristics of his works. By examining parodies, this study has revealed that many parodists are acute critics who can pick up Longfellow's subtle peculiarities. At the same time, it has become apparent that not all parodies are intended to make fun of the popular poet Some parodists, like Bayard Taylor, are close friends of Longfellow's. It seems that they attempt to learn the secrets of his poetry by emulating his poems. Also, a special attention has been paid to a female poet Phoebe Cary. Her parodies show that contrary to the prevalent notion that parodists claim nothing except for demolishing their originals by partial modification, she uses parodies as a means to express a contention. In her case, she maintains that women should not flee from reality but get involved tactically with life.The other aim of this research is to examine how Longfellow became idolized in his time by studying what are called ephemerae concerning the popular poet For instance, this study has investigated diaries that quote passages from Longfellow's poetry. They were often used as gift books, which, in the nineteenth century, served like today's greeting cards. These ephemerae helped reproduce Longfellow's popularity. Also this research has found Clarence Budington Kelland, a neglected popular novelist of the early 20th century, significant in the history of Longfellow criticism. Kelland wrote a novel "Opera Hat," whose protagonist is named Longfellow. This study indicates that Kelland idealizes a homogeneous culture like that of nineteenth century America in which culture was not stratified between high and popular. Longfellow, in Kelland's novel, epitomizes this kind of culture and struggles to bring it back to early 20th-century America.