|
NATHANIEL See also: American author, was descended from See also: George Willis, described as a " Puritan of considerable distinction," who arrived in New See also: England about 163o and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
Nathaniel See also: Parker was the eldest son and second See also: child of Nathaniel Willis, a newspaper proprietor in See also: Boston, and was See also: born in See also: Portland, Maine, on the loth of See also: January 18o6
.
After attending Boston grammar school and the See also: academy at See also: Andover, he entered Yale See also: College in See also: October 1823
.
Although he did not specially distinguish himself as a student, university See also: life had considerable influence in the development of his character, and furnished him with much of his See also: literary material
.
Immediately after leaving Yale he published in 1827 a See also: volume of poetical Sketches, which attracted some See also: attention, although the critics found in his verses more to blame than to praise
.
It was followed by Fugitive See also: Poetry (1829) and another volume of verse (1831)
.
He also
1 He had been consecrated See also: bishop, also by See also: Sergius, on a previous visit in 692
.
contributed frequently to magazines and See also: periodicals
.
In 1829 he started the American
.
Montkly See also: Magazine, which was continued from See also: April of that See also: year to See also: August 1831, but failed to achieve success
.
On its discontinuance he went to See also: Europe as See also: foreign editor and correspondent of the New See also: York Mirror
.
To this journal he contributed a series of letters, which, under the title Pencillings by the Way, were published at See also: London in 1835 (3 vols.; See also: Philadelphia, 1836, 2 vols.; and first See also: complete edition, New York, 1841)
.
Their vivid and rapid sketches of scenes and modes of life in the old See also: world at once gained them a wide popularity; but he was censured by some critics for indiscretion in See also: reporting conversations in private gatherings
.
Notwithstanding, however, the small affectations and fopperies which were his besetting weaknesses as a See also: man as well as an author, the See also: grace, ease and See also: artistic finish of his See also: style won general recognition
.
His " Slingsby Papers," a series of magazine articles descriptive of American life and adventure, republished in 1836 under the title Inklings of Adventure, were as successful in England as were his Pencillings by the Way in See also: America
.
He also published while in !England Melanie and other Poems (London, 1835; New York, 1837), which was introduced by a preface by See also: Barry See also: Cornwall (See also: Procter)
.
After his See also: marriage to Mary Stace, daughter of General See also: William Stace of
See also: Woolwich, he returned to America, and settled at a small estate on See also: Oswego Creek, just above its junction with the Susquehanna
.
Here he lived off and on from 1837 to 1842, and wrote Letters from under a See also: Bridge (London, 184o; first complete edition, New York, 1844), the most charming of all his See also: works
.
During a See also: short visit to England in 1839-184o he published Two Ways of Dying for a See also: Husband
.
Returning to New York, he established, along with George P
.
See also: Morris, a newspaper entitled the Evening Mirror
.
On the See also: death of his wife in 1845 he again visited England
.
Returning to America in the spring of 1846, he married See also: Cornelia See also: Grinnell, and established the See also: National See also: Press, afterwards named the Home Journal
.
In 1845 he published Dashes at Life with a See also: Free Pencil, in 1846 a collected edition of his See also: Prose and Poetical Works, in 1849 Rural Letters, and in 185o Life Here and There
.
In that year he settled at Idlewild on the HudsonSee also: river, and on account of failing See also: health spent the See also: remainder of his life chiefly in retirement
.
Among his later works were See also: Hurry-Graphs (1851), Outdoors at Idlewild (18J4), Ragbag (1855), See also: Paul Fame (1856), and the Convalescent (1859), but he had survived his See also: great reputation
.
He died on the 2oth of January 1867, and was buried In See also: Mount Auburn, Boston
.
The best edition of his verse writings is The Poems, Sacred, Passionate and Humorous, of N
.
P
.
Willis (New York, 1868); 13 volumes of his prose, Complete Prose Works, were published at New York (1849-1859), and a Selection from his Prose Writings was edited by See also: Henry A
.
Beers (New York, 1885)
.
His Life, by Henry A
.
Beers, appeared in the series of " American Men of Letters " the same year
.
See also E
.
P
.
Whipple, Essays and Reviews (vol. i., 1848) ; M
.
A. de WolfeSee also: Howe, American Bookmen (New York, 1898)
.
|
|
|
[back] WILLIMANTIC |
[next] THOMAS WILLIS (1621-1675) |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.