A devout Quaker who became a passionate poetic spokesman for the antislavery movement, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807?92) was one of the most beloved American poets of his era. In the years before the Civil War, he campaigned tirelessly against slavery in poems that include ?Ichabod, ? his famous denunciation of Daniel Webster for his support of the Fugitive Slave Law. In the long poem ?Snow-Bound? (1866) he created a warm and enthralling portrait of rural life, while such works as ?Barbara Frietchie? and ?The Barefoot Boy? have been enduringly popular. This new selection brings together Whittier's many aspects?political, religious, richly descriptive?and reaffirms the emotional honesty and depth of his work
1807-1892
John Greenleaf Whittier was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Although he received little formal education, he was an avid reader who studied his father's six books on Quakerism until their teachings became the foundation of his ideology. Whittier was heavily influenced by the doctrines of his religion, particularly its stress on humanitarianism, compassion, and social responsibility.
Whittier produced two collections of antislavery poetry: Poems Written during the Progress of the Abolition Question in the United States, between 1830 and 1838 and Voices of Freedom (1846). He was an elector in the presidential election of 1860 and of 1864, voting for Abraham Lincoln both times.
The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 ended both slavery and his public cause, so Whittier turned to other forms of poetry for the remainder of his life.
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