Poetical Works - Fitz-Greene Halleck

Fitz-Greene Halleck was born in the old Connecticut coastal town of Guildford. At age 21 he moved to New York where he worked for nearly 4 decades in the financial world. In 1819 his long satirical poem Fanny was published. In 1820 the death of his close friend Joseph Rodman Drake led to him writing perhaps his best known poem as a tribute. A visit to Europe at age 32 broadened his cultural horizons and led to the writing of poems like Marco Bozzaris, Burns and Alnwick Castle. In 1849, with a small annuity from John Jacob Astor, he retired to his home town to live with his sister. Long years of quiet studious retirement produced the poem Connecticut showing his affection for his home state. He died at Guildford in 1867. After his death a statue of him was erected in Central Park in New York. Halleck is widely regarded as one of the earliest major American poets and his best poems have regularly appeared in anthologies of American Poetry. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)