Fitz-Greene Halleck
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| Fitz-Greene Halleck | |
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| Born | 1790 Guilford, Connecticut, USA |
| Died | 1867 |
Fitz-Greene Halleck (July 8, 1790 – November 19, 1867) was an American poet, born and died at Guilford, Connecticut. He wrote, with Joseph Rodman Drake, a young poet who died at 25, and with whom he may have been in love, The Croaker Papers, a series of satirical and humorous verses, and Fanny, his longest poem, also a satire on the literature, fashions, and politics of the time, published anonymously, December, 1819. Fanny obtained a factitious popularity, but hardly repays reading.
Halleck commemorated his friend's death in the most beautiful and best known of his poems, beginning "Green is the turf above thee" (1820). In 1822 Halleck visited Europe, and the traces of this are found in most of his subsequent poetry, e.g. his lines on Burns, and on Alnwick Castle. Between 1830 and 1860 he was regarded as America's leading poet, despite attacks on his moral character.
In May, 1811, he became a clerk in the New York bank of Jacob Barker, where he remained for 20 years. On May 15, 1832, Halleck became the private secretary to John Jacob Astor and was appointed by him one of the original trustees of the Astor Library of New York. He also functioned as Astor's cultural tutor, advising him on what pieces of art to purchase. In 1849 he retired to his native place where he spent the rest of his life.
In 1877 a statue was erected to him, the first to commemorate an American poet.
[edit] Publications
- Wilson, The Life and Letters of Fitz-Greene Halleck (New York, 1869)
- Wilson, The Poetical Writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck {New York, 1869)
- Hallock, John Wesley Matthew. "The First Statue: Fitz-Greene Halleck and Homotextual Representation in Nineteenth-Century America." [Temple U, 1997], DAI, Vol. 58-06A (1997): 2209.
This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J.M. Dent & sons; New York, E.P. Dutton.
[edit] External links
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
