Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/243

 WILLIAM llOSS WALLACE. A POEM entitled "Dirge of Napoleon," which was declared by John Neal, in the New England Galaxy, to be "daringly and surprisingly original," written by William Ross Wallace, before he was seventeen years of age, gave him enviable rank among the writers of the West. In 1836, the Cincinnati Mirror published a poem on "Jerusalem," which it pronounced "beautiful, exceeding beautiful." Mr. Wallace, before he attained his majority, was encouraged by these and other tokens of success in metrical composition, to come before the world as the author of a volume of poems. "The Battle of Tippecanoe" and other Poems,* was published at Cincinnati, by P. McFarlin, in 1837. The leading poem was delivered at a celebration on the battle- ground, on the seventh of November, 1835, Neither it, nor any others of the twelve poems which compose the book, have been since acknowledged by their author, excepting those above-mentioned, though in the Louisville Journal and other influen- tial papers, it was spoken of as not merely giving evidence of genuine power, but as containing illustrations of true genius. IVIr. Wallace was born at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1819. His father, a native of Ohio, was a Presbyterian preacher. He died when William was about eighteen months of age. His mother, who was a native of Pennsylvania, still lives in Ken- tucky. William was educated at Bloomington and South Hanover Colleges, Indiana. He read law in Kentucky and entered upon its practice with good prospects, but was induced by literary friends to emigrate to New York City, where he now resides, making authorship his profession. He is a regular contributor to Harper's Magazine, the Knicherbocher, the Journal of Commerce, and the New York Ledger. He has published in New York thi-ee volumes: "Alban, a Metrical Romance," in 1848; "Medi- tations in America" and other poems, in 1851; and "The Loved and Lost," in 1856, a volume of prose and poetry. He is now preparing for publication " The Pleasures of the Beautiful" and other poems, and a national poem devoted to the great deeds and scenery of our country, which will be entitled " Chants of America." Mr. Wallace has been very earnestly encouraged as a poet by eminent writers. William CuUen Bryant has said that "his poems are marked by a splendor of imag- ination and an affluence of poetic diction which show him the born poet;" and Edgar A. Poe declared that he stands in the front rank of modern poets." He has written upon but a few topics suggested by incidents or characters in Western History. "Daniel Boone" and lines to "An American Mound" are the only poems of this class we have seen from his pen, excepting "The Battle of Tippecanoe." His subjects are often of national interest, but he is the author of a number of charming songs. The themes upon which he writes with most power and beauty are those which in themselves possess grandeur and require stateliness of rhythm. ( 227 )
 * Inscribed to William Henry Harrison.