The volume combines a concise biographical sketch of John Greenleaf Whittier with a curated selection of his poems. The life sketch traces his rural Quaker upbringing, the intellectual isolation of his youth, influences that shaped his commitment to social reform, and the development of his poetic voice. The poems are arranged to evoke stages of his career: boyhood and home life, political and social struggle, and a later mood of devout reflection. Together the biography and poetry illuminate how personal experience and moral conviction informed his verse.