This comprehensive history of the literary scene in Philadelphia traces the city's influence on American literature from colonial times to the present day. Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer provides detailed sketches of the city's prominent writers, including Ben Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, and Walt Whitman, and explores the various literary movements that emerged from Philadelphia, from the Enlightenment to the Beat Generation. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.