C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
Whittier, John Greenleaf. A famous American poet; born at Haverhill, MA, Dec. 17, 1807; died at Hampton Falls, NH, Sept. 7, 1892. A Quaker in religion, he was remarkable for his consistency and the purity of his life; he was one of the earliest and most influential abolitionists, several times mobbed for his opinions. He was at different periods editor of several journals, among them (1838–40) the Pennsylvania Freeman, an abolition publication, and the leading contributor to the Washington National Era, 1847–59; was member of the Massachusetts Legislature, 1835–36; one of the secretaries of the American Antislavery Society, 1836. His home, after 1840, was at Amesbury, MA. Among his best-known poems are: ‘Skipper Ireson’s Ride’ (1860); ‘My Playmate’ (1860); ‘Barbara Frietchie’ (1863); ‘Laus Deo’ (1865); ‘My Birthday’; ‘Snow-Bound’ (1866); ‘Maud Muller’ (1866); ‘The Tent on the Beach’ (1867). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).