Text: William Henry Gravely, Jr., “Abstract,” The Early Political and Literary Career of Thomas Dunn English Story, dissertation, 1953 (This material is protected by copyright)

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Originally designed to cover the entire span of Thomas Dunn English's life, this study has been limited for the present to his early career. It is not concerned with event subsequent to 1852 except insofar as they bear directly on events which occurred earlier. Only by limiting the study in this manner has the writer found it possible to treat as thoroughly as seemed desirable the most important period of English's life — a period coinciding roughly with the decade of the 1840's. Of the ten chapters of this work, only the first and second are not chiefly concerned with the events of this stirring decade. These two chapters deal primarily with English's precocious youth from his birth in Philadelphia on June 29, 1819, to his entry into politics some twenty-one years later.

The next three chapters deal mainly with English's political activities in behalf of two Presidents of the United States: John Tyler and James K. Polk. In Chapters III and IV considerable space is devoted to a discussion of the general state of national politics both before and after Tyler succeeded to the Presidency. The purpose of this discussion is to clarify the precise nature of English's significance, though minor, rôle in the political drama of the period — first as an important member of the “Corporal's Guard” in Philadelphia and secondly as editor of the New York Aurora. Chapter V is chiefly concerned with English's vigorous editorial support of [page a02:] President Polk in The Aristidean and with his brief sojourn in Washington as a newspaper correspondent during the winter of 1846-1847.

The rest of the study has to do primarily with English's literary career during the 1840's — especially his ill-starred association with Edgar Allan Poe. In Chapter VI English's reminiscences of Poe from 1839 to 1833 are examined, and an effort is made to account for the animosity which evidently arose between the two men at an early date. Special attention is given to the question of whether English used his influence with the Tyler organization to prevent Poe's receiving a minor appointive office in the Philadelphia Custom House during either 1842 or 1843. After a chapter devoted principally to English's own literary achievement as poet, novelist, and playwright during the early 1840's — including an account of the genesis of Ben Bolt — the Poe-English relationship again becomes the chief topic of discussion. Chapter VIII is mainly concerned with the renewal of friendly relations between Poe and English in 1845 and with the mutual assistance which they gave each other as editors of The Broadway Journal and The Aristidean respectively. Largely on the basis of internal evidence, a number of unacknowledged contributions appearing in both periodicals have been added to the Poe canon. In Chapter IX Poe's relations with Mrs. Osgood and Ms. Ellet are carefully analysed, inasmuch as the complications arising from these relations led to the final break between English and Poe. Then follows an examination of the successive stages of [page a03:] the Poe-English feud: the notorious fist fight, the War of the Literati, and the lawsuit resulting from English's libelous attack on Poe. The final chapter stresses the wide variety of English's literary activities during his last years as a resident of Philadelphia, special emphasis being placed on his temporarily successful venture as one of the co-editors of The John-Donkey. It is concluded that in thus evincing his many-sidedness he was merely fulfilling the destiny fore-shadowed in his youth, and that it was his failure to leave behind him any literary achievement commensurate with his talents.