Chapter Chapter 3 of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

by his townspeople over his grave was dedicated to his memory -- the first honor of the kind bestowed upon an American poet.

Joseph R. Drake, 1795-1820.

The association of Halleck and Drake in the most intimate of friendships is one of the pleasant incidents of our literary history. Joseph Rodman Drake was born in New York, became a student of medicine, wrote but a brief amount of verse, -- although that was of a high quality, -- and died at twenty-five. "There will be less sunshine for me hereafter," said Halleck, "now that Joe is gone."

The two poets joined in contributing to the New York Evening Post a series of anonymous poems, under the general title of The Croakers. These appeared in 1819; they were light, satiric, often personal in aim, and capital examples of what is frequently called "society verse." They excited a great deal of comment at the time, and are said to have been a subject of conversation in drawing-rooms, book-stores, and coffee-houses on Broadway and throughout the city. One of the best poems in the series was Drake's The American Flag, of which the concluding lines --

"Forever float that standard sheet!
   Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
   And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?"

-- were the suggestion of Halleck.

Drake's principal composition is a long but graceful poem, full of charm and animated by a most poetical fancy, entitled The Culprit Fay. It was written in 1816, and grew out of a discussion in the group of poets -- Cooper being with them at the time -- as to the possibility of drawing from American streams poetical inspiration like that found in the historic and legend-haunted rivers of Scotland. Drake affirmed that it could be done; and in three days, it is said, he produced his brilliant poem, the scene of which is laid in the Highlands of the Hudson. Although written previous to the appearance of Irving's Sketch- Book, the poem was not published until 1835.

Richard Henry Dana, 1787-1879.

Richard Henry Dana was born in Boston, and was one of the associate editors of the North American Review, when Bryant's early poems were accepted for that publication. In 1821, he began in New York to publish a new magazine, The Idle Man, in which Bryant's poems continued to appear. When Bryant arrived in New York and took his first editorial position in charge of the New York Review, in 1825, he included Dana's poem, The Dying Raven, along with Halleck's Marco Bozzaris, in the first issue of that magazine. Mr. Dana did not produce many poems. A volume, entitled The Buccaneer, and Other Poems, was published in 1827. One lyric, The Little Beach-Bird, has found a permanent place. It is interesting to note that the poet was one of several descendants of Anne Bradstreet to attain some distinction in verse. The larger part of his long life was lived in retirement, and his influence in the development of our literature was perhaps strongest indirectly in his criticism, and in his personal association with his literary friends. His son, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-82), is even more widely known than his father, as the author of the popular narrative, Two Years before the Mast (1840).

Other Minor Poets.

Among the minor poets belonging to this period of fresh beginnings, several call for mention who were not directly in association with the Knickerbocker group. John Pierpont (1785-1866), a native of Connecticut and later a Unitarian clergyman in Boston, was the author of the spirited Warren's Address, and of the poem, The Pilgrim Fathers. His Airs of Palestine, and Other Poems was published first in 1816. James Gates Percival (1795-1857), a man of remarkable versatility, also Connecticut born, was a physician, a geologist, and a linguist. He wrote fluently -- although little of his work is familiar now. The Coral Grove is one of his brightest compositions. His first volume of poems, Prometheus, appeared in 1820. Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865), born at Norwich, Connecticut, and for many years head of a famous select school for girls, which she established at Hartford in 1814, was a pioneer in the cause of higher education for women. She was a prolific writer, the author of fifty-three volumes in prose and