The Poets and Poetry of America

Publisher Evert Augustus Duyckinck noted that "the thought [of a national literature] seems to have entered and taken possession of [Griswold's] mind with the force of monomania".

[5] The anthology was 476 pages[1] and collected poems from over 80 authors,[6] including 17 by Lydia Sigourney, three by Edgar Allan Poe, and 45 by Charles Fenno Hoffman.

[2] It gave prominent space to some of the most popular poets of the day, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Cullen Bryant.

The Albany, New York-based Poet's Magazine criticized the "undue prominence" granted to lesser poetasters, including Edgar Poe.

[9] Literary historian Fred Lewis Pattee called the book a "collection of poetic trash" and "voluminous worthlessness".