The Culprit Fay

"The exquisite poem of 'The Culprit Fay,' was composed hastily among the Highlands of the Hudson, in the summer of 1819. The author &mdash; says his biography &mdash; was walking with some friends on a warm moonlight evening, when one of the party remarked that it would be difficult to write a faery poem, purely imaginative, without the aid of human characters.  When the party was reassembled, two or three days afterward, 'The Culprit Fay' was read to them, nearly as it is now printed."