# The Poets and Poetry of the West: With Biographical and Critical Notices

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
POETS AND POETRY
OF
THE WEST.
THE
POETS AND POETRY
OF
THE WEST:
WITH
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES.
BY
WILLIAM T. COGGESHALL.
"Here is a wreath
With many an unripe blossom garlanded,
And many a weed, yet mingled with some flowers That will not wither."
Southet.
COLUMBUS: FOLLETT, FOSTER AND COMPANY.
1860.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860,
By WILLIAM T. COGGESHALL,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.
FOILETT, FOSTER & CO., PRINTERS, STERE0TTPER3 AND BINDERS,
COLUMBUS, OHIO.
PREFACE.
This volume is the first of a series designed to present a survey of "Western Literature—to make known who have been, and who are the poets, orators, and prose-writers of the States which comprise what is properly known, in American history and geography, as The West; and to preserve, in a form convenient for reference, their most characteristic productions.
The Poets and Poetry of the West has been prepared upon a plan contemplating not only the republication of poems which have become celebrated, but a fair representation of what may, not inappropriately, be considered the respectable poetical literature of the great Central Valley of the United States. It contains selections, Avith biographical notices, from the writings of ninety-seven men and fifty-five women, of whom sixty are, or at the time of their decease were, residents of Ohio; twenty-three of Indiana; fourteen of Kentucky; thirteen of Illinois; five of Michigan; four of Wisconsin; three of Missouri; two of Iowa; two of Minnesota; one of Kansas. Among these poets, sixty-nine are native to the geographical division of the American Confederacy in which their fortunes are cast: to Ohio, thirty-nine; to Kentucky, fifteen; to Indiana, thirteen; to Michigan, one; to Illinois, one.
​Not more than ten of the writers herein represented can be classed as literary men and women in that sense which conveys the idea of the pursuit of literature as a profession. The poets of the West are, or have been, lawyers, doctors, teachers, preachers, mechanics, farmers, editors, printers, and housekeepers. They have written at intervals of leisure, snatched from engrossing cares and exacting duties. Their literary labors, consequently desultory, have rarely been given to elaborate performances, but rather to the emotion, the impulse, or the passion of the hour; and yet it may be justly claimed that this volume presents a collection of poems, remarkable for variety of topics and versatility of treatment, exhibiting in a greater degree the feeling than the art of poetry, but preserving some specimens of descriptive and some of lyric verse, which are likely to keep the memories of their authors green for many generations yet to come.
In poetry breathing an earnest spirit of moral and political reform; expressing just appreciation of material beauty; revealing domestic affections; representing noble aspirations for intrinsic worth and force, the West is rich; but in humorous poems (except by way of parody) and in the more pretending styles, which are wrought by elaborate culture, it is far from opulent. The reasons are obvious. The earliest poem of the West was written in 1789. The regular chronological order of this volume comprises a period of only forty years—a period significant for perilous wars, for hard work, for amazing enterprise; all of which furnish materials for literature, but, until the mellowing influences of time have long hung over their history, repel poetry.
It has been the intention of the Editor to include in this collection every person, legitimately belonging to the West, who has gained recognition as a writer of reputable verse. He doubts not some have been omitted more worthy than some who are presented; but all coming within the standard established, of whom satisfactory information could be obtained, have been recorded. Facts calculated to make the volume nearer just, and nearer complete than it now is, will be gratefully received. The Editor trusts that a large number of fugitive poems peculiar to the West, Avhicli he found it impossible to collect, will hereafter be brought together.
For the measure of completeness with which the Editor has been enabled to discharge the duties he assumed, he is greatly indebted, for wise counsel as well as valuable assistance, to literary gentlemen in all parts of the West; among whom special acknowledgments are due John P. Foote, N. Peabody Poor, and William Henry Smith of Cincinnati; William D. Gallagher and Ben Casseday of Kentucky; ​John B, Dillon of Indiana; Lyman C. Draper of Wisconsin; T. Herbert Whipple of Illinois; Sullivan D. Harris and A. B. Laurens of Columbus; John H. James of Urbana; and Harvey Rice of Cleveland, Ohio.
The biographic notices furnish not merely interesting personal facts, but will be found valuable by students of bibliography, and of the history of periodical literature. The aid which has been rendered the Editor in their preparation is announced in the table of Contents.
The order of arrangement is according to the time when, as nearly as could be ascertained, the respective poets included were recognized by the public; excepting for the period 1850-60, in which the order of succession is according "to date of birth.
Trusting that his labors will promote encouragement of local literature among the people for whom he has worked, and believing that what is here collected will enhance respect for that literature, the Editor submits this volume not less cheerfully to their discriminating criticism than to the general good-will, which, in terms demanding gratitude, but with it enforcing embarrassment, has been expressed in leading periodicals and newspapers.
* ↑ Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Micliigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas.
* ↑ John M. Harney, Thomas Peirce, Julia L. Dumont, Micah P. Flint, Charles Hammond, Wm. R. Schenck, Louisa P. Smith, Elijah P. Lovejoy, Otway Curry, Harvey D. Little, James H. Perkins, Hugh Peters, Thomas H. Shreve, Charles A. Jones, Amelia B. Welby, Edward A. M'Laughlin, Laura M. Thurston, Eleanor P. Lee, Horace S. Minor, Emeline H. Johnson, Mary E. Fee Shannon, Benjamin T. Gushing, John G. Dunn, George Y. Welborn, Mary Wilson Betts, M. Louisa Chitwood, John T. Swartz, Harriet M. Howe.
CONTENTS.
ADAMS, LOIS B.
AREY, HANNAH E. G.
BAILEY, MARGARET L;
BALLARD, GRANVILLE M.
BARNITZ, ALBERT. Biographic Notice|682}}
BARRICK, JAMES R.
BARRITT, FRANCES F.
BATES, LEWIS J.
BEEBE, LIZZIE G.
BETTS, MARY W.
BIDDLE, HORACE P.
BOLTON, SARAH T.
BONE, JOHN H. A.
BRANNAN, WILLIAM P.
BUSHNELL, WILLIAM H.
{{dotted TOC line|| ​CHAMBERLIN, CAROLINE A. BiOGKAPHic Notice|460 }}
{{dotted TOC line|| ​Wedded Love|199 }}
{{dotted TOC line||V ​Winter Rain|546 }}
{{dotted TOC line|| ​HAMMOND, CHARLES. Biographic Notice|68 }}
{{dotted TOC line|| ​JONES, CHARLES A. Biographic Notice — Wm. D. Gallagher. .|203 }}
{{dotted TOC line|| ​MORRIS, SAMUEL V. BioGEAPHic Notice|675 }}
{{dotted TOC line|| ​PRENTICE, GEORGE D. BiOGBAPHic Notice — Wm. W. Fosdick . . . .|121 }}
Retrospection May Noon June October The Church Beyond the Hills
SWARTZ, JOHN T. Biographic Notice There are no Tears in Heaven
SYMMES, PEYTON S. Biographic Notice Lines on Winter Sonnet to Health Appeal for Greece Poetic Address
TAYLOR, BENJAMIN F. Biographic Notice Rhymes of the River June Dews Shall I Know Her Again ? God Bless our Stars The World's Embodied Thought.
THOMAS, FREDERICK W. Biographic Notice Extracts from the " EmigTant " Woman 'Tis Said that Absence Conquers Love When thou wert True Thy Portrait Extracts
THOMAS, LEWIS F. Biographic Notice Woman The World Memory Love's Argument
THURSTON, LAURA M. Biographic Notice — Benj. St. James Fry . On Crossing the Alleghauies The Paths of Life The Green Hills of My Father-Land. I Fear not Thy Frown Parting Hymn A Dream of Life
|595 }}
254