Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/423

 WHITTIER

WHITTIER

service. In 1875 he received a letter of thanks from the Waldensian synod for his poem, "The Vaudois Teacher," which, translated into French, had become a household favorite among the Waldenses, declined the commission to write the ode for the Centennial exposition at Philadelphia, in 1876, which was eventually written by Bay- ard Taylor, Whittier agreeing to write the hymn for the same occasion, after Taylor's withdrawal of his hymn, already prepared in compliance with a previous commission. In December, 1877, upon the occasion of Whittier's seventieth birthday, many notable tributes to his talent were published in the Literary World, and on the anniversary day, December 17, a dinner was given in his honor, at Hotel Brunswick, Boston, by the publisher of the Atlantic Monthly, on which occasion he received a memorable ovation. His eightieth birthday was also fittingly celebrated in Boston, and a testimonial portfolio containing Senator George F. Hoar's address on the occa- sion, and several hundred autographs of prominent officials and citizens, was presented to Whittier. The last years of his life were passed quietly at the home of his cousins at " Oak Knoll," Danvers, Mass., with occasional journej^s for the benefit of his health. His home in East Haverhill be- came the property of the Whittier Memorial

association. His valuable colonial histories were presented to the Amesbury and Haverhill public libraries. The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Harvard and by Haver- ford in 1860, and that of LL.D. by Harvard. 1886, of which institution lie was an overseer, 1858-64. He was a member of the American Philosophical society and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His distinguished coterie of friends, to whom he addressed poems or lines on various instances, included Garrison, Chan- ning, Rantoul, Sumner, the Sewalls, Lydia Maria Child, Bayard Taylor, James T. Fields and Mrs. Fields, Agassiz, Holmes and Bryant. His poems, in general, embrace the purely descriptive; the narrative, or legendary, in which element he was

one of the first to perceive poetical significance; the historical, and those touching directly or in- directly upon the question of slavery, the last class comprising hy far the greatest proportion. Whittier edited: " Literary Remains of John G. C. Brainard, with a Biographical Sketch " (1832); "Views of Slavery and Emancipation,'' by Harriet Martineavi (1837); " Letters from John Quincy Adams to his Constituents" (1837); "The North Star; the Poetry of Freedom, by her Friends" (1840); "A Visit to the United States in 1841" by Joseph Sturge (1842); "The Patience of Hope," by Dora Greenwell (1863); "Child Life, a Collection of Poems" (1871); " The Journal of John Woolman " (1872); " Child Life in Prose," with Lucy Larcom (1874); " Songs of Three Centuries," an anthology (1876); " Let- ters of Lydia Maria Child " (1883); " American Literature, and Other Papers " b_v E. P. Whipple (1887). He is the author of the collected and separate works (exclusive of those already men- tioned): 2Ioll Pitcher (1832) republished with the Minstrel Girl (1840); Mogg Megone (1836); Miscellaneotis Poems (1844); TJie Stranger in Loivell (1845); Voices of Freedom (1846); The Supernaturalism of New England (1847); Poems (1849); Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal (1849); Poetical Works (London, 1850); Soi^gs of Labor, and Other Poems (1850); Old Portraits and Modern Sketches (1850); The Chapel of the Hermits and Other Poems (1853); Literary Rec- ollections and 2Iiscellanies (1854); The Panorama, and Other Poems (1856); Poetical Works (1857 rev. ed., 1867); The Sycamores (1857); Home Bal- lads, Poems and Lyrics (1860); Snow-Bound, A Winter Idyl (1866); Prose Works (2 vols., 1866); Maud Midler (1867); National Lyrics (lS67j; Ballads of Neiv England (1870); Two Letters on the Present Aspect of the Society of Friends (1870); Miriam, and Other Poems (1871); The Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and Other Poems (1872); Complete Poetical Works (1874; 1876; 1880; 1881); Mabel Martin, and Other Poems (1874); Hazel Blossoms (1875); Vision of Echard, and Other Poems (1878); The River-Path (1880): The King's Missive, and Other Poems (1881); The Bay of Seven Islands, and Other Poems (1883); Poet- ical Works (1885); Poems of Nature (1886); Saint Gregory's Guest, and Recent Poems (1886); Poetical and Prose Works (7 vols., 1888); At Sun- down (1890-1892); Poetical Works, with Life (London, 1891). See: "Poets and Poetry of America" by R. W. Griswold (1856); his "Life, Genius, andVritings " by W. S. Kennedy (1882); "Biography" by F. H. Underwood (1884); "The Poet of Freedom " by W. S. Kennedy in " Amer- ican Reformers" Series (1892); "A Memorial, from his Native City, Haverhill, Mass." (1893:; " Life" by W. J. Linton (1893); "Notes on his