In this Book
- The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789–1820
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: University Press of New England
summary
Welcome to Boston in the early years of the republic. Prepare to journey by stagecoach with a young man moving to the “bustling city”; stop by a tavern for food, drink, and conversation; eavesdrop on clerks and customers in a dry-goods shop; get stuck in what might have been Boston’s first traffic jam; and enjoy arch comments about spouses, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and poets. As Paul Lewis and his students at Boston College reveal, regional vernacular poetry—largely overlooked or deemed of little or no artistic value—provides access to the culture and daily life of the city. Selected from over 4,500 poems published during the early national period, the works presented here, mostly anonymous, will carry you back to Old Boston to hear the voices of its long-forgotten citizen poets. A rich collection of lost poetry that will beguile locals and visitors alike.
Table of Contents
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- Introduction
- pp. 1-22
- Coming to Boston
- pp. 23-28
- The Stage Coach. Inscribed to Mira
- pp. 29-33
- Lines on the Elm Tree
- pp. 36-39
- Anacreon Imitated
- p. 39
- A Letter to Tom, in the Country
- pp. 41-43
- [Dear Jack, I am no more the clown]
- pp. 43-45
- Jonathan’s Journey to Boston
- pp. 45-48
- Men and Women
- pp. 54-59
- On the Choice of a Husband
- pp. 56-57
- [Oh, envy’d happiness! said Isabel]
- pp. 60-61
- The Man to My Mind
- p. 65
- A Hint to a Friend
- p. 66
- To My Friend
- pp. 67-68
- Single Blessedness
- pp. 69-70
- Ladies’ Dress
- p. 76
- The War Horse
- p. 85
- The Man of Feeling
- pp. 85-86
- To the President
- p. 87
- The Dying Indian
- pp. 87-90
- Democrats in Office
- pp. 91-92
- Buonaparte
- pp. 93-96
- Extracts from Fawcett’s Contrast
- pp. 96-97
- Canning’s Speech
- p. 98
- Tribute to Foreign Missions
- pp. 101-102
- Slave-Holder and Yankee
- p. 102
- The Family
- pp. 103-108
- Verses on a Sleeping Daughter
- pp. 109-110
- [Julia, to Anna Maria, Sends Greeting]
- pp. 111-113
- Thanksgiving
- pp. 113-114
- The Hopeful Youth
- p. 114
- Eliza . . . A Poem
- pp. 115-117
- Lord Dyring . . . A Ballad
- pp. 117-119
- Jephthah’s Vow
- pp. 119-122
- The Consolation
- p. 122
- To the American Goldfinch
- pp. 123-124
- The Orphan
- pp. 124-125
- A Mother’s Love
- pp. 127-128
- Jobs, Shops, and the Professions
- pp. 129-136
- Mechanics Song
- pp. 137-138
- Epigram—To a Physician
- p. 142
- The Mechanick Preferred
- p. 143
- Epigram. [Boston stage]
- pp. 144-145
- Author—ity
- pp. 145-146
- Examination
- pp. 146-148
- [Good folks, the Carrier —fill’d with fear]
- pp. 148-150
- The Truant
- pp. 150-152
- Imitation of Martial
- p. 152
- Advertisement [fabric shop]
- pp. 152-153
- An Epistle to the Editor
- pp. 155-156
- Pleasure and the Good Life
- pp. 157-162
- Bacchus’s Shrine
- pp. 163-164
- The Grumbler
- pp. 165-166
- Life and Friendship
- pp. 166-167
- Heigh-ho! By a Lady
- pp. 168-169
- The Sine Qua Non
- pp. 169-170
- Time and Pleasure
- pp. 170-171
- God Is There
- p. 172
- A Rebus [Take the sixth]
- p. 183
- An Enigmatical Bill of Fare
- pp. 185-186
- A Rebus [The crimson rose]
- pp. 187-188
- Acrostical Rebus
- p. 189
- A Rebus [An Animal vain]
- pp. 190-191
- Rebus [The isle where]
- pp. 191-192
- The Riddle—A New Song
- pp. 193-194
- Answer to the Rebus, in our last number
- pp. 194-195
- Enigma [Relentless foe]
- p. 195
- An Acrostic [Blessed news]
- pp. 195-196
- Origin of Life and Death
- p. 196
- Anecdote [Old Harvard long hath stood]
- pp. 196-198
- Written on the Author’s Natal Day
- pp. 205-206
- On a Canary Bird
- p. 207
- Elegy on Perceiving a Rent in My Old Shoe
- pp. 207-208
- The Old Man and Death
- pp. 208-209
- To the Memory of William Henry Moulton
- pp. 210-212
- Thanatopsis
- pp. 212-213
- The Ruins of an Old Mansion
- pp. 216-218
- On the Death of Twins
- pp. 218-220
- Acknowledgments
- pp. 286-287
- Bibliography
- pp. 298-299
Additional Information
ISBN
9781611689303
Related ISBN(s)
9781611688870, 9781611688887
MARC Record
OCLC
922799527
Pages
234
Launched on MUSE
2016-02-09
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2016