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NATHANIEL See also:PARKER See also:WILLIS (1806-1867) , See also:American author, was descended from See also:George See also:Willis, described as a " Puritan of considerable distinction," who arrived in New See also:England about 163o and settled in See also:Cambridge, See also: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, See also:Maine, on the loth of See also:January 18o6 . After attending Boston See also: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 See also:influence in the development of his See also: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 See also: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 See also:Mirror . To this See also:journal he contributed a See also:series of letters, which, under the See also: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
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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 See also:general recognition
.
His " Slingsby Papers," a series of magazine articles descriptive of American life and See also: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 See also:preface by See also:Barry See also:Cornwall (See also:Procter)
.
After his See also:marriage to See also:Mary Stace, daughter of General See also:
In that year he settled at Idlewild on the See also:Hudson See also:river, and on See also: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 See also: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: A. de See also:Wolfe See also:Howe, American Bookmen (New York, 1898) . |
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