Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/222

 634 Non-English Writings II them as the inevitable outgrowth of the American environment, the more readily shall we come into full use of it : such use as has in other lands produced out of just such material the plays of Shakespeare, the epics of Homer, the operas of Wagner, the fables of ^sop, the hymns of David, the tales of Andersen, and the Arabian Nights. Perhaps the nearest and best use we can make of it is the mere contemplation of its content and quality, its variety and extent, to rid ourselves of the incubus of European influence and the ever-present obsession of New York. For we cannot take even this cursory view of it without realizing that there is no quarter of our land that has not spoken with distinct and equal voice, none that is not able, without outside influence, to produce in its people an adequate and characteristic literary medium and form.