Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

by John Greenleaf Whittier

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1892

About the author

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets. Whittier was strongly influenced by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can we today believe in Whittier’s meekness/virtue? Surely, our knowledge of psychology leads us to suspect he’s insincere/repressed, hiding darker struggles/drives.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I did not read this volume, but a selection of poems by John Greenleaf Whitter: "Ichabod," "Massachusetts To Virginia," "Maud Muller," "Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl," and "Telling the Bees."

The opposition to slavery is a recurrent theme in Whitter's poetry. "Ichabod" is a biblical allusion to the disgrace of statesman Daniel Webster following his support of the Fugitive Slave Law, requiring citizens of Massachusetts to actively enforce the laws of slavery within the boundaries of their free state. Whitter urges enraged citizens to pity and mourn Webster, as a man who has parted with his soul, and leave wrath to God's judgement of Webster.

In "Massachusetts To Virginia," Whitter assures the South that the North is not waging an offensive war against its southern brothers. It is the South who threatens the North. Whitter uses evocative nature metaphors to illustrate the hearty nature of New Englanders in the face of Southern aggression. He makes repetitive allusions to the Revolutionary legacy and the patriotic familial relation between the states. Massachusetts, he argues, is faithful to the Revolutionary principle of liberty, which is violated by the Fugitive Slave Law. Although from Puritan heritage, he warns that the citizens of Massachusetts will not passionately submit to to being made slavery's implement. Ignoring the role of northern states in the slave trade, Whitter places the burden of slavery on the Southern conscious, as a condition self-created, which the northern states have no responsibility to uphold. He considers slavery a curse on the land , blasphemy, and against natural feeling. Intertwining Revolutionary legacy with religious sanctity, Whitter depicts the state of Massachusetts naturally untied by divine moral principle and patriotic duty. He ends the poem declaring that there is no slave on Massachusetts land.

"Maud Muller" has a different tone. This is a poem of regret and imagining an alternative life. Whitter laments the injustice of social boundaries and prejudice, which create marriages that enslave and deaden the soul.

"Snow-Bound: A Winter's Idyl" is also a nostalgic poem. The poem depicts a snowstorm that is at once wondrous, transformative, and foreign. The snow storm transforms the landscape into a place unrecognizable, described most accurately in exotic metaphors. It does not belong to the family, as the hearth fire does. Nature's transcendent signs are undecipherable miracles, and the family is isolated by the snow. Yet, the family is not a paralyzed victim of the storm. They venture out into the snow and life continues. The poem celebrates the strength and unity of the family. Still there is a sense of loss at the center of the poem, which Whitter terms "a loss in all familiar things," possibly to be reclaimed in the resolution of the Civil War. The poem may be read as a nostalgia for the innocence of youth when the national family and Whitter's own was together, with the snowstorm foreshadowing the future political turmoil, as well as the separation of death that inevitably marks the passage of life. In Whitter's view, answers to the mysteries of life are unknowable, but external life is not what matters. Life's meaning is found within - within the home, the hearth, the family, the heart.

There is an immediacy at the start of "Telling the Bees." The reader is "here," "can see," "there is the house." Initially the narrator insists that this place is near timeless and unchanged, emphasizing the "same"-ness of the place. This may strike the reader, as it did me, as artificial and forced. Halfway through the poem the narrator informs the reader that "since we parted, a month has passed,," and we become aware that despite appearances at least one thing has changed. Whitter may be evoking the appearance of the life going on despite personal death. The bees may be an allusion to the business of American laborers, mourning for a national grief.

[Anastasia_ Anastasia_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book in my early teens. Without permission I snatched it from my mothers library shelf, because it looked old and I thought it would make me look smart. I hadn't heard of Whittier before discovering the book in my mothers library. In my early youth I tended to skip the front matter of books so I really didn't even know who the true author was. Even though it was a small book that could easily fit in my bag, it was thick and there was such a wide variety of poems that I actually thought it was a compilation of of several authors. I was an adult before I actually took the time to read the front. When I realized it was all written by one man my jaw dropped in awe. That one man could write in a way that so many of the entries seemed like a fresh and original point of view, like they were written by completely different people, was a concept that impressed and moved me. I felt lucky. Now after so many years, I have rediscovered the book and snatched it once again from my mothers shelf, this time with permission of course. I confessed to her that the spot on the cover was where my lotion broke open in my bag and how terrified I was that I had destroyed the cover of a book that was published in 1899. I told her that in my guilt I tried to hide it back in her library. She laughed, many of her old books have mysterious stains and marks on them, she never would have known otherwise. Sometimes I sniff the cover and fight back the urge to taste the Lotions and Potions of my youth.

This book is a much easier read than I remember and is well worth the time just to have the exposure to Whittier's styles of writing. I give it four stars only because the star system makes little sense to me...

[Lori Shriver · Rating 4 out of 5]

My latest addition to my collection is The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1876.

While the cover of my book is loose and the first few pages are well worn, the content itself is an interesting read, and I appreciate the historical notes in the back of the book.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

History in poetry, as well as beauty, etc.

[Cory Schulz · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American and ardent advocate of slavery in the United States. In 1826, Whittier had his first poem published. Entitled "The Exile's Departure." the poem ran in the Newburyport Free Press. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison edited the paper and encouraged Whittier in his writing. In the 1830’s he gave lectures against slavery and wrote poems supporting abolition. Later in life he wrote poems that were turned into hymns. In 1866 Whittier wrote “Snow-Bound,” and became one of the country’s most popular poets. Whittier: The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, copy right 1984, is filled with over 450 of his poems. The rhyming pattern of his poems varies, with some demonstrating AA, BB, CC, DD patterns, others exhibit A ,B ,C, B patterns, and some do not rhyme. I would use this book in my classroom as an example of classical poetry, but taking into consideration the age of the reading the poems kids and the difficulty interpreting them, it would only be a small portion of the unit.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another must have for your home library!