Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-1892), was an American poet. His best-known poems fall into two groups—those attacking slavery, and those praising the charms of New England country life. Whittier’s simple, direct, and sometimes sentimental style has made his poems, such as “Maud Muller” (1854), popular with both young readers and adults.
Whittier was born on Dec. 17, 1807, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His parents were Quaker farmers. Whittier’s poetry shows the influence of his Quaker religion and rural New England background, and he is often called the “Quaker poet.” The Scottish poet Robert Burns also influenced Whittier. Like Burns, Whittier wrote ballads on rural themes. But his poetry lacks the wit of Burns’s work.
From 1833 to 1863, Whittier was active in politics and the antislavery movement. He called for the abolition of slavery in newspaper articles and while serving in the Massachusetts legislature in 1835. The abolitionist cause also dominated his poetry. In “Massachusetts to Virginia” (1843), he criticized the slave state, Virginia, for betraying the Founding Fathers’ democratic principles and love of liberty.
Whittier’s finest political poem is “Ichabod” (1850), a lyric. “Ichabod” comes from the Hebrew word meaning inglorious. It criticizes Senator Daniel Webster for his role in the passage of the Compromise of 1850. Whittier objected to the compromise because it required that runaway slaves be returned to their owners. But he used a dignified, restrained tone that makes “Ichabod” seem less an attack on Webster than an expression of sympathy for him.
In two ballads, “Skipper Ireson’s Ride” (1857) and “Telling the Bees” (1858), Whittier showed his interest in the people, customs, legends, and settings of New England. These features appear in his masterpiece, “Snow-Bound” (1866), an affectionate description of Quaker life. The long poem tells of a family marooned in their farmhouse by a blizzard (see Snow-Bound ). Whittier died on Sept. 7, 1892.
