As early as 1828 Mr. Thayer had attempted to get the Poems of Adrian published by subscription, and while in Hartford Whit tier had issued his first book, Legends of New England (1831), in prose and verse, and edited the Literary Remains (1832) of the poet John G. C. Brainard. For all his early verse, including Mogg Megone (1836), a crude attempt to apply Scott's romantic method to a native theme, he apologized in later life and suppressed the pieces entirely or banished them to the oblivion, of an appendix. Pre-war volumes which reveal the development of his power are Lays of my Home (1843), Voices of Freedom (1846), Songs of Labor (1850), The Chapel of the Hermits (1853), The Pano rama (1856), Home Ballads (186o). The titles of In War Time (1863) and National Lyrics (1865) designate the patriotic rather than Tyrtaean contents of these books. The poet was closely affiliated with the Atlantic Monthly from the foundation of that magazine in 1857. The consequent growth of his reputation and the welcome awarded to Snow-Bound in 1866 brought a corre sponding material reward. Of his later books of verse may be mentioned The Tent on the Beach (1867), The Pennsylvania Pilgrim (1872) , The Vision of Echard The King's Missive (1881), At Sundown, his last poems (1890). As early as 1849 an illustrated collection of his poems appeared, and his Poetical Works were issued in London in 185o. During the ensuing 4o years no fewer than ten collections of his poems appeared. Mean while, he did much editing and compiling, and produced, among other works in prose, The Stranger in Lowell (1845) ; The Super naturalism of New England ; Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal a charming narrative of colonial days; and Old Portraits and Modern Sketches (185o). When he died on Sept. 7, 1892, in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire he had been an active writer for over 6o years, leaving more than that number of publications which bore his name as author or editor. His body was brought to Amesbury for interment. The Amesbury house has been acquired by the "Whittier Home Association." It would be unjust to consider Whittier's genius from an ac ademic point of view. As a poet he was essentially a balladist, with the faults of his qualities ; and his ballads, in their freedom, naiveté, even in their undue length, are among the few modern examples of unsophisticated verse. Such pieces as "Barclay of Ury" or "Skipper Ireson's Ride" are perhaps the best American examples of this form. Whittier became very sensible of his shortcomings ; and when at leisure to devote himself to his art he greatly bettered it. It is necessary always to take into consider
ation his own explanation that many of his poems "were written with no expectation that they would survive the occasions which called them forth ; they were protests, alarm signals, trumpet-calls to action, words wrung from the writer's heart, forged at white heat, and of course lacking the finish which reflection and patient brooding over them might have given." The inward voice was his inspiration, and of all American poets he was the one whose song was most like a prayer. A knightly celibate, his stainless life, his ardour, caused him to be termed a Yankee Galahad; a pure and simple heart was laid bare to those who loved him in "My Psalm," "My Triumph," and "An Autograph." The spiritual habit abated no whit of his inborn sagacity, and it is said that in his later years political leaders found no shrewder sage with whom to take coun sel. In spite of his technical defects the fact remains that no other poet has sounded more native notes or covered so much of the American legendary, and that Whittier's name among the patri otic, clean and true, was one with which to conjure.
his death Whittier revised his works, classi fying them for a definitive edition in seven volumes (1888-89), which has been used as a basis for all subsequent editions. H. E. Scudder ed ited the one-volume Cambridge edition of Whittier's verse (1894). The poet's Life and Letters, prepared by his kinsman and literary executor, Samuel T. Pickard, appeared in 1894. Whittier's Unknown Romance; Letters to Elizabeth Lloyd was published with an introduction by Marie V. Denervaud in 1922 ; John Albree edited Whittier Corre spondence from the Oak Knoll Collections (i9i ; S. T. Pickard is sued Whittier as a Politician; illustrated by his Letters to Professor Elizur Wright, Jr. (5900). Biographies of Whittier are: Richard Burton (19oI), G. R. Carpenter (1903), T. W. Higginson (1902), W. S. Kennedy (enlarged ed., 1892), W. J. Linton (1893), Bliss Perry (1907), and F. H. Underwood (1884). Personal reminiscences were given by Mrs. Mary B. Claflin (1893), Mrs. James T. Fields (1893), Frances C. Sparhawk (1925), and Edmund Gosse in Portraits and Sketches (1912). S. T. Pickard's Whittier-Land (2904) presented hitherto unpublished material. See also essays in A. H. Strong's American Poets and Their Theology (1916) and Barrett Wendell's Stelligeri (1893) and the bibliography in the Cambridge History of American Literature (vol. ii. pp.