American Men of Mind. Burton Egbert Stevenson

"Thanatopsis," 1816; editor-in-chief New York Evening Post, 1829; published first collection of poems, 1821, and others from time to time until his death, at New York City, June 12, 1878.

      Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Born at Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807; graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825; travelled in Europe, 1826–29; professor of modern languages at Bowdoin, 1829–35; professor of modern languages and belles lettres at Harvard, 1836–54; published "Voices of the Night," 1839; "Ballads and Other Poems," 1841; "Poems on Slavery," 1842; and many other collections of his poems, until his death at Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 24, 1882.

      Whittier, John Greenleaf. Born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807; attended Haverhill Academy; edited "American Manufacturer," at Boston, 1829; edited the Haverhill Gazette, 1830; became secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836; member of Massachusetts legislature, 1835–36; settled at Amesbury, Massachusetts, 1840; published "Legends of New England," 1831; "Moll Pitcher," 1832; and many other collections of his poems until his death at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, September 7, 1892.

      Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 29, 1809; professor of anatomy and physiology, Harvard Medical School, 1847–82; published "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," 1858; "Elsie Venner," 1861; "Songs in Many Keys," 1861; and other collections of poems and essays; died at Cambridge, October 7, 1894.

      Lowell, James Russell. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 22, 1819; graduated at Harvard, 1838; professor of belles lettres at Harvard, 1855; editor Atlantic Monthly, 1857–62; editor North American Review, 1863–72; minister to Spain, 1877–80; minister to Great Britain, 1880–85; published "A Year's Life," 1841; "Vision of Sir Launfal," 1845; "A Fable for Critics," 1848; "The Biglow Papers," 1848; and many other collections of essays, criticisms, and poems; died at Cambridge, August 12, 1891.

      Poe, Edgar Allan. Born at Boston, January 19, 1809; entered University of Virginia, 1826; ran away from home, 1827; published "Tamerlane and Other Poems, by a Bostonian," 1827; enlisted in the army as Edgar A. Perry, rising to rank of sergeant-major, 1829; entered West Point, July 1, 1830; dismissed, March 6, 1831; married Virginia Clemm, 1835, who died in 1847; published "Poems," 1831; "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque," 1840; died at Baltimore, October 7, 1849.

      Whitman, Walt or Walter. Born at West Hills, Long Island, May 31, 1819; a printer, carpenter, and journalist in early life; volunteered as army nurse, 1861; seized with hospital malaria, 1864; held government position at Washington, 1864–73; disabled by paralysis and removed to Camden, New Jersey, where he died, March 26, 1892. "Leaves of Grass," published originally in 1855, was many times revised, a final edition appearing in 1892.

      Taylor, Bayard. Born at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825; apprenticed to a printer, 1842; travelled on foot through Europe, 1844–46; in Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, 1851–52; in India, China, and Japan, 1852–53; secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, 1862–63; minister to Berlin, 1878; died at Berlin, December 19, 1878. He published collections of poems and travel letters.

      Stedman, Edmund Clarence. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833; entered Yale, 1839, leaving in junior year; was correspondent New York World, 1861–63; later became stockbroker in New York City, retiring only a short time before his death in New York, January 18, 1908. Published several collections of poems.

      Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. Born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836; editor of Every Saturday, 1870–74; editor of The Atlantic Monthly, 1881–90; published "Bells," 1855; "Ballad of Baby Bell," 1856; and many other collections of poetry, together with several novels and collections of short stories; died March 19, 1907.

      Field, Eugene. Born at St. Louis, Missouri, September 2, 1850; began newspaper work at age of twenty-three, and ten years later became associated with the Chicago Daily News, where most of his work appeared; his first book of verse, "A Little Book of Western Verse," was published in 1889, and a number of others followed; died at Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 1895.

      Riley, James Whitcomb. Born at Greenfield, Indiana, 1853; entered journalism at Indianapolis, 1873; wrote first verses, 1875; first book of verse, "The Old Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems," published in 1883; numerous volumes since then.

      Lanier, Sidney. Born at Macon, Georgia, February 3, 1842; served in Confederate Army, and suffered exposure which resulted in consumption; studied and practised law till 1873; then decided to devote life to music and poetry; played first flute in the Peabody Symphony Orchestra at Baltimore; lecturer on English literature at Johns Hopkins University, 1879–81; complete poems published 1881; died at Lynn, North Carolina, September 7, 1881.

      Timrod, Henry. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, December 8, 1829; educated at the University of Georgia, studied law and supported himself as a private tutor until the Civil War; war correspondent and then assistant editor of The South Carolinian, at Columbia, until Sherman burned the town; died at Columbia, South Carolina, October 6, 1867; his poems, edited by Paul Hamilton Hayne, published 1873.

      Hayne, Paul Hamilton. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, January 1, 1830; graduated at the University of South Carolina, edited Russell's Magazine and the Literary Gazette, and served for a time in the Confederate Army; first poems published 1855; complete edition, 1882; died near Augusta, Georgia, July 6, 1886.

      Simms, William Gilmore. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, April 17, 1806; admitted to bar, 1827, but abandoned law for literature and journalism; first poems published 1827; resided at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1832–33, where longest poem, "Atalantis," was written; first novel, "Martin Faber," published 1833, and followed by many others; returned to South Carolina, 1833, and died at Charleston, June 11, 1870.

CHAPTER IV

       Table of Contents

PAINTERS

       Table of Contents

      If background and tradition are needed for literature, they are even more needed for art, and it is curiously worth noting that the background and traditions of England did not serve for her child across the sea. In both literature and art, so far as vital and significant achievement is concerned, the young nation had to find itself, and, starting from a rude and rough beginning, work its way upward of its own strength. Perhaps in no other way may the youth of America be so completely realized as by the thought that all of real importance in both literature and art which she can boast has been produced within the past ninety years—little more than the three score years and ten which the Psalmist assigned as the span of a single life.

      We do not mean to say that European influence is not plainly to be traced in both our art and literature. There is a family resemblance, so to speak, as between a child and its parents, and yet the child has an individuality of its own. In literature, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whitman are distinctively American; and, as we shall find, so are our masters of painting and sculpture.

      American art begins with John Singleton Copley. There had been daubers before him, as there were after, but Copley was the first man born in America who produced paintings which the world still contemplates with pleasure. Copley was born in Boston in 1737, his father dying shortly afterwards, and his mother supporting herself by keeping a tobacco shop. About 1746 she married again, most fortunately for her son, for her second husband was Peter Pelham, a mezzotint engraver of considerable merit, who gave the boy lessons in drawing. He proved an apt and precocious pupil, and by the time he had reached seventeen had executed a number of portraits.

      His reputation steadily increased, and his income from his work was so satisfactory that he hesitated to try his fortunes in the larger field of London. Finally, in 1774, he sailed for England, and in the next year sent for his family to join him there. The opening of the Revolution persuaded him to stay in England, as there would be no demand for his work in