A Mighty Change: An Anthology of Deaf American Writing, 1816-1864

2. James Nack

2 JAMES NACK (1809–1879)
James Nack was one of the first deaf people to publish a book in the United States. Born hearing in New York City on January 4, 1809, he grew up in an impoverished family. His older sister taught him at home, and he could read by age four. When he was eight, he was already showing skill at writing verse and rhyme. That same year, his life suddenly changed. He fell down a staircase and hit his head on a heavy fire screen, which left him unconscious for weeks and totally deaf. In 1818, Nack entered the newly-opened New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. He became increasingly interested in poetry, writing a complete tragedy when he was twelve. After leaving school at age fourteen, he began to produce romantic verse. One of these, ‘‘The Blue-Eyed Maid,’’ caught the attention of Abraham Asten, a clerk of the city of New York. Asten befriended the boy and found him a job in a lawyer’s office. Nack took advantage of the attorney’s library, reading numerous books and learning several foreign languages on his own. Asten also introduced the prodigy to some of the city’s leading poets and 32 JAMES NACK 33 writers, who encouraged him to publish a collection of his work. Nack’s first volume, The Legend of the Rocks and Other Poems, appeared in 1827. It contained sixty-eight poems he had written before age eighteen, and received substantial attention. Hearing reviewers marveled at Nack’s youth and talent, calling him an ‘‘intellectual wonder’’ and comparing him favorably to the young Lord Byron. The New York Critic commended his smooth and harmonious versification, which seemed all the more remarkable because of his deafness. Others praised the feeling in his work and wondered how Nack, as a deaf person ‘‘cut off’’ from society, could write so well about human emotion.1 Nack became something of a sensation, and his poetry caused readers to reconsider their assumptions about deaf people. In 1838, Nack married a hearing woman who had been a friend since childhood. They had three daughters. He supplemented his writing career by working as a legal clerk for over thirty years and translating literature from German, French, and Dutch. Nack represented one of the earliest success stories of deaf education in America. Leaders in later years would often cite him as an example of the potential many deaf people have. For example , in his 1854 essay calling for the establishment of a national college for the deaf, John Carlin refers to Nack as proof that ‘‘mutes of decided talents can be rendered as good scholars’’ (see p. 104). Nack produced four volumes of poetry in all, but perhaps none was quite as influential as his first. His verse is typical of the sentimental style of the period, and may appear imitative and dated today. However, it marked an important step forward for deaf people. Nack showed that deaf authors were capable of producing 1. Quoted in Harry G. Lang and Bonnie Meath-Lang, Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary (Westport, Conn.: Greenword Press, 1995), 270. 34 JAMES NACK James Nack that most difficult form of writing, poetry; he challenged stereotypes the public had about deaf individuals; and he no doubt helped to inspire subsequent deaf poets like John Burnet (who was Nack’s close friend) and Carlin to write poems and seek to publish their work. The excerpt in this chapter is from ‘‘The Minstrel Boy,’’ a long poem of sixty-three stanzas that Nack composed when he was just sixteen. It is one of his few works that deals directly with deafness. Nack later wrote that he produced this poem at a time when he was ‘‘peculiarly unhappy.’’ In it, he mourns the loss of his hearing and implores readers to extend their charity to ‘‘heathen ’’ deaf people who do not know the gospel. Contemporary critics praised it for its emotive power. JAMES NACK 35 The Minstrel Boy 1. And am I doom’d to be denied forever, The blessings that to all around are given? And shall those links be reunited never That bound me to mankind, till they were riven In childhood’s day? Alas, how soon to sever From social intercourse, the doom of heaven Was past upon me! and the hope...