John Greenleaf Whittier: A sketch of his life, with selected poems

Chapter 2: NOTE

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About This Book

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.

NOTE

The occasion for this little volume is the celebration of the centenary of Whittier’s birth. The sketch of his life aims to present the chief formative influences which affected his career and determined the character of his poetry. The poems have been chosen with the intention of illustrating, first, the circumstances of Whittier’s boyhood and the themes to which his poetic imagination naturally turned, then the political and social struggle which engrossed so many of his years, and finally that mood of devout resting and waiting in which his long life closed.