David Bates (poet)

David Bates (March 6, 1809 – January 25, 1870) was an American poet.

He was born in Indian Hill, Ohio, and educated in Buffalo, New York, before working in first Indianapolis then Philadelphia. In 1849, he published a volume of poetry, Eolian.

Among his best-known works are Speak Gently (parodied by Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Chiding, and Childhood.