John Greenleaf Whittier's Poetry: An Appraisal and a Selection

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U of Minnesota Press, 1971 - 208 pages

John Greenleaf Whittier's Poetry was first published in 1971. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

In this volume Robert Warren Penn, the noted critic, poet, and novelist, provides a major new appraisal of the once enormously popular New England port, John Greenleaf Whittier, along with his selection of 36 of Whittier's poems. Through Warren's perceptive and illuminating discussion, the significance of Whittier as a writer for our time becomes clear. In his introduction Warren shows that Whittier's deep commitment to his fellowman, especially his devotion to the cause of abolition, profoundly influenced his writing. In his estimate of Whittier's place in literature, Warren invokes the questions What does the past mean to an American? and in this context he compares Whittier with Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, and Faulkner. He finds that Whittier's "star belongs in their constellation. If it is less commanding than any of theirs it yet shines with a clear and authentic light."

 

Selected pages

Contents

Poetry as Experience
3
Suggested Readings
62
Massachusetts to Virginia
65
Song of Slaves in the Desert
71
Randolph of Roanoke
73
To My Sister
77
Ichabod
79
To My Old Schoolmaster
81
The Prophecy of Samuel Sewall
143
The DoubleHeaded Snake of Newbury
148
My Playmate
151
Ein Feste Burg 1st Unser Gott
154
Monadnock from Wachuset from Mountain Pictures
157
Barbara Frietchie
159
The Vanishers
162
Laus Deo
164

FirstDay Thoughts
87
Trust
88
Maud Muller
89
Letter from a Missionary
94
The Barefoot Boy
97
The Panorama
100
Mary Garvin
114
The Last Walk in Autumn
120
The Garrison of Cape Ann
128
Skipper Iresons Ride
134
Telling the Bees
138
The Pipes at Lucknow
140
SnowBound
167
Abraham Davenport
188
The Hive at Gettysburg
191
Prelude from Among the Hills
192
In SchoolDays
196
The Pressed Gentian
198
Conductor Bradley
199
At Last
201
Abram Morrison
202
On the Big Horn
206
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About the author (1971)

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic, and one of the founders of New Criticism.

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