Library of America, Sachbücher, John Greenleaf Whittier: Selected Poems (Englisch, John Greenleaf Whittier, 2004)

A beloved figure in his own era&mdash &mdash a household name for such poems as &ldquo Barbara Frietchie&rdquo and &ldquo The Barefoot Boy&rdquo &mdash John Greenleaf Whittier remains an emotionally honest, powerfully reflective voice. A Quaker deeply involved in the struggle against slavery (he was harassed by mobs more than once) he enlisted his poetry in the abolitionist cause with such powerful works as &ldquo The Hunters of Men,&rdquo &ldquo Song of Slaves in the Desert,&rdquo and &ldquo Ichabod!&rdquo , his mournful attack on Daniel Webster&rsquo s betrayal of the anti-slavery cause. Whittier&rsquo s narrative gift is evident in such perennially popular poems as &ldquo Skipper Ireson&rsquo s Ride&rdquo and the Civil War legend &ldquo Barbara Frietchie,&rdquo while in his masterpiece &ldquo Snow-Bound&rdquo he created a vivid, flavorful portrait of the country life he knew as a child in New England. &ldquo His diction is easy, his detail rich and unassuming, his emotion deep,&rdquo writes editor Brenda Wineapple. &ldquo And the shale of his New England landscape reaches outward, promising not relief from pain but a glimpse of a better, larger world.&rdquo About the American Poets Project Elegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and introduced by today&rsquo s most discerning poets and critics.