American

John Greenleaf Whittier

1807–1892


John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American Quaker poet and dedicated abolitionist from Massachusetts, who used verse throughout his life to campaign against slavery and to record New England legend and rural memory.

His long autobiographical poem ‘Snow-Bound’ (1866), recalling his family snowed in at their farmhouse, became one of the most beloved American poems of the 19th century.

  1. The Vaudois Teacher
  2. The Female Martyr
  3. Extract From "A New England Legend."
  4. The Demon Of The Study
  5. The Fountain
  6. Pentucket
  7. The Norsemen
  8. Funeral Tree Of The Sokokis
  9. The Cypress-Tree Of Ceylon
  10. The Exiles
  11. Cassandra Southwick
  12. The New Wife And The Old
  13. The Bridal Of Pennacook
  14. Barclay Of Ury
  15. The Angels Of Buena Vista
  16. Kathleen
  17. The Well Of Loch Maree
  18. The Chapel Of The Hermits
  19. Tauler
  20. The Hermit Of The Thebaid
  21. Maud Muller
  22. Mary Garvin
  23. The Ranger
  24. The Garrison Of Cape Ann
  25. The Gift Of Tritemius
  26. Skipper Ireson's Ride
  27. The Sycamores
  28. The Pipes At Lucknow
  29. Telling The Bees
  30. The Swan Song Of Parson Avery
  31. The Double-Headed Snake Of Newbury
  32. Proem
  33. The Prophecy Of Samuel Sewall
  34. The Red Riper Voyageur
  35. The Preacher
  36. The Truce Of Piscataqua
  37. My Playmate
  38. Cobbler Keezar's Vision
  39. To William Bradford
  40. The Countess
  41. Among The Hills
  42. The Dole Of Jarl Thorkell
  43. The Two Rabbins
  44. Norembega
  45. Miriam
  46. Nauhaught, The Deacon
  47. The Sisters
  48. Massachusetts Bay, 1760
  49. The Robin
  50. Introductory Note
  51. After The Danish Of Christian Winter
  52. The Three Bells
  53. John Underhill
  54. Conductor Bradley
  55. The Witch Of Wenham
  56. King Solomon And The Ants
  57. In The "Old South."
  58. The Henchman
  59. The Dead Feast Of The Kol-Folk
  60. The Khan's Devil
  61. The King's Missive
  62. Valuation
  63. Rabbi Ishmael
  64. The Rock-Tomb Of Bradore
  65. The Bay Of Seven Islands
  66. The Wishing Bridge
  67. How The Women Went From Dover
  68. Saint Gregory's Guest
  69. Birchbrook Mill
  70. The Two Elizabeths
  71. Requital
  72. The Homestead
  73. An Algonquin Legend
  74. Banished From Massachusetts
  75. The Brown Dwarf Of Rugen
  76. My Triumph
  77. In School-Days
  78. My Birthday
  79. Red Riding-Hood
  80. Response
  81. At Eventide
  82. Voyage Of The Jettie
  83. My Trust
  84. A Name
  85. Greeting
  86. An Autograph
  87. Abram Morrison
  88. A Legacy
  89. Snow-Bound
  90. The Frost Spirit
  91. The Merrimac
  92. Hampton Beach
  93. A Dream of Summer
  94. The Lakeside
  95. Autumn Thoughts
  96. On Receiving an Eagle's Quill from Lake Superior
  97. April
  98. Pictures
  99. Summer by the Lakeside (Lake Winnipesaukee)
  100. The Fruit-Gift
  101. Flowers in Winter (Painted upon a Porte Livre)
  102. The Mayflowers
  103. The Last Walk in Autumn
  104. The First Flowers
  105. The Old Burying-Ground
  106. The Palm-Tree
  107. The River Path
  108. Mountain Pictures
  109. The Vanishers
  110. The Pageant
  111. The Pressed Gentian
  112. A Mystery
  113. A Sea Dream
  114. Hazel Blossoms
  115. Sunset on the Bearcamp
  116. The Seeking of the Waterfall
  117. The Trailing Arbutus
  118. St. Martin's Summer
  119. Storm on Lake Asquam
  120. A Summer Pilgrimage
  121. Sweet Fern
  122. The Wood Giant
  123. A Day
  124. Memories
  125. Raphael
  126. Ego (Written in the Album of a Friend)
  127. The Pumpkin
  128. Forgiveness
  129. To My Sister, with a Copy of "The Supernaturalism of New England."
  130. My Thanks, Accompanying Manuscripts Presented to a Friend
  131. Remembrance (With Copies of the Author's Writings)
  132. My Namesake
  133. A Memory
  134. My Dream
  135. The Barefoot Boy
  136. My Psalm
  137. The Waiting
  138. The Star of Bethlehem
  139. The Cities of the Plain
  140. The Call of the Christian
  141. The Crucifixion
  142. Palestine
  143. Hymns from the French of Lamartine
  144. The Familist's Hymn
  145. Ezekiel
  146. What the Voice Said
  147. The Angel of Patience (A Free Paraphrase of the German)
  148. The Wife of Manoah to Her Husband
  149. My Soul and I
  150. Worship
  151. The Holy Land
  152. The Reward
  153. The Wish of To-Day
  154. All's Well
  155. Invocation
  156. Questions of Life
  157. First-Day Thoughts
  158. Trust
  159. Trinitas
  160. The Sisters (A Picture by Barry)
  161. "The Rock" in El Ghor
  162. The Over-Heart
  163. The Shadow and the Light
  164. The Cry of a Lost Soul
  165. Andrew Rykman's Prayer
  166. The Answer
  167. The Eternal Goodness
  168. The Common Question
  169. Our Master
  170. The Meeting
  171. The Clear Vision
  172. Divine Compassion
  173. The Prayer-Seeker
  174. The Brewing of Soma
  175. A Woman
  176. The Prayer of Agassiz
  177. In Quest
  178. The Friend's Burial
  179. A Christmas Carmen
  180. Vesta
  181. Child-Songs
  182. The Healer (To a Young Physician, with Dore's Picture of Christ Healing the Sick)
  183. The Two Angels
  184. Overruled
  185. Hymn of the Dunkers (Kloster Kedar, Ephrata, Pennsylvania, 1738)
  186. Giving and Taking
  187. The Vision of Echard
  188. On a Sun-Dial (For Dr. Henry I. Bowditch)
  189. On a Fountain (For Dorothea L. Dix)
  190. The Minister's Daughter
  191. By Their Works
  192. The Word
  193. The Book
  194. Requirement
  195. Help
  196. Utterance
  197. The Inward Judge
  198. Laying Up Treasure
  199. Conduct
  200. An Easter Flower Gift
  201. The Mystic's Christmas
  202. At Last
  203. What the Traveller Said at Sunset
  204. The "Story of Ida."
  205. The Light That Is Felt
  206. The Two Loves
  207. Adjustment
  208. Hymns of the Brahmo Somaj
  209. Revelation
  210. To William Lloyd Garrison
  211. Toussaint L'Ouverture
  212. The Slave-Ships
  213. Expostulation
  214. Hymn ("O Thou, Whose Presence Went Before")
  215. The Yankee Girl
  216. The Hunters of Men
  217. Stanzas for the Times
  218. Clerical Oppressors
  219. A Summons
  220. To the Memory of Thomas Shipley
  221. The Moral Warfare
  222. Ritner
  223. The Pastoral Letter
  224. Hymn ("As Children of Thy Gracious Care")
  225. Hymn ("O Holy Father! Just and True")
  226. The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother to Her Daughters Sold into Southern Bondage
  227. Pennsylvania Hall
  228. The New Year
  229. The Relic
  230. The World's Convention of the Friends of Emancipation, Held in London in 1840
  231. Massachusetts to Virginia
  232. The Christian Slave
  233. The Sentence of John L. Brown
  234. Texas (Voice of New England)
  235. To Faneuil Hall
  236. To Massachusetts
  237. New Hampshire
  238. The Pine-Tree
  239. To a Southern Statesman
  240. At Washington
  241. The Branded Hand
  242. The Freed Islands
  243. A Letter
  244. Lines from a Letter to a Young Clerical Friend
  245. Daniel Neall
  246. Song of Slaves in the Desert
  247. To Delaware
  248. Yorktown
  249. Randolph of Roanoke
  250. The Lost Statesman
  251. The Slaves of Martinique
  252. The Curse of the Charter-Breakers
  253. Paean
  254. The Crisis
  255. Lines on the Portrait of a Celebrated Publisher
  256. Derne
  257. A Sabbath Scene
  258. In the Evil Days
  259. Moloch in State Street
  260. Official Piety
  261. The Rendition
  262. Arisen at Last
  263. The Haschish
  264. For Righteousness' Sake
  265. The Kansas Emigrants
  266. Letter from a Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in Kansas, to a Distinguished Politician
  267. Burial of Barber
  268. To Pennsylvania
  269. Le Marais du Cygne
  270. The Pass of the Sierra
  271. A Song for the Time
  272. What of the Day?
  273. A Song, Inscribed to the Fremont Clubs
  274. The Panorama
  275. On a Prayer-Book, with Its Frontispiece, Ary Scheffer's "Christus Consolator," Americanized by the Omission of the Black Man
  276. The Summons
  277. To William H. Seward
  278. In War Time
  279. Thy Will Be Done
  280. A Word for the Hour
  281. "Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott." (Luther's Hymn)
  282. To John C. Fremont
  283. The Watchers
  284. To Englishmen
  285. Mithridates at Chios
  286. At Port Royal
  287. Song of the Negro Boatmen
  288. Astraea at the Capitol (Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, 1862)
  289. The Battle Autumn of 1862
  290. Hymn (Sung at Christmas by the Scholars of St. Helena's Island, S. C.)
  291. The Proclamation
  292. Anniversary Poem
  293. Barbara Frietchie
  294. What the Birds Said
  295. The Mantle of St. John De Matha (A Legend of "The Red, White, and Blue," A. D. 1154-1864)
  296. Laus Deo!
  297. Hymn for the Celebration of Emancipation at Newburyport
  298. The Peace Autumn
  299. To the Thirty-Ninth Congress
  300. The Hive at Gettysburg
  301. Howard at Atlanta
  302. The Emancipation Group
  303. The Jubilee Singers
  304. Garrison
  305. The Quaker of the Olden Time
  306. Democracy
  307. The Gallows
  308. Seed-Time and Harvest
  309. To the Reformers of England
  310. The Human Sacrifice
  311. Dedication
  312. The Shoemakers
  313. The Fishermen
  314. The Lumbermen
  315. The Ship-Builders
  316. The Drovers
  317. The Huskers
  318. The Corn-Song
  319. The Reformer
  320. The Peace Convention at Brussels
  321. The Prisoner for Debt
  322. The Christian Tourists
  323. The Men of Old
  324. To Pius IX
  325. Calef in Boston
  326. Our State
  327. The Prisoners of Naples
  328. The Peace of Europe
  329. Astraea
  330. The Disenthralled
  331. The Poor Voter on Election Day
  332. The Dream of Pio Nono
  333. The Voices
  334. The New Exodus
  335. The Conquest of Finland
  336. The Eve of Election
  337. From Perugia
  338. Italy
  339. Freedom in Brazil
  340. After Election
  341. Disarmament
  342. The Problem
  343. Our Country
  344. On the Big Horn
  345. A Lament
  346. To the Memory of Charles B. Storrs
  347. Lines on the Death of S. Oliver Torrey, Secretary of the Boston Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society
  348. To ------, with a Copy of Woolman's Journal
  349. Leggett's Monument
  350. To a Friend, on Her Return from Europe
  351. Lucy Hooper
  352. Follen. On Reading His Essay on the "Future State."
  353. To J. P.
  354. Chalkley Hall
  355. Gone
  356. To Ronge
  357. Channing
  358. To My Friend on the Death of His Sister
  359. Daniel Wheeler
  360. To Fredrika Bremer
  361. To Avis Keene on Receiving a Basket of Sea-Mosses
  362. The Hill-Top
  363. Elliott
  364. Ichabod
  365. The Lost Occasion
  366. Wordsworth, Written on a Blank Leaf of His Memoirs
  367. To ------, Lines Written After a Summer Day's Excursion
  368. In Peace
  369. Benedicite
  370. Kossuth
  371. To My Old Schoolmaster (An Epistle Not After the Manner of Horace)
  372. The Cross
  373. The Hero
  374. Rantoul
  375. William Forster
  376. To Charles Sumner
  377. Burns, on Receiving a Sprig of Heather in Blossom
  378. To George B. Cheever
  379. To James T. Fields (On a Blank Leaf of "Poems Printed, Not Published.")
  380. The Memory of Burns
  381. In Remembrance of Joseph Sturge
  382. Brown of Ossawatomie
  383. Naples (Inscribed to Robert C. Waterston, of Boston)
  384. A Memorial
  385. Bryant on His Birthday
  386. Thomas Starr King
  387. Lines on a Fly-Leaf
  388. George L. Stearns
  389. Garibaldi
  390. To Lydia Maria Child, on Reading Her Poem in "The Standard."
  391. The Singer
  392. How Mary Grew
  393. Sumner
  394. Theirs
  395. Fitz-Greene Halleck. At the Unveiling of His Statue
  396. William Francis Bartlett
  397. Bayard Taylor
  398. Our Autocrat
  399. Within the Gate. L. M. C.
  400. In Memory. James T. Fields
  401. Wilson
  402. The Poet and the Children. Longfellow
  403. A Welcome to Lowell
  404. An Artist of the Beautiful. George Fuller
  405. Mulford
  406. To a Cape Ann Schooner
  407. Samuel J. Tilden (Greystone, Aug. 4, 1886)
  408. Eva
  409. A Lay of Old Time
  410. A Song of Harvest
  411. Kenoza Lake
  412. For an Autumn Festival
  413. The Quaker Alumni
  414. Our River (For a Summer Festival at "The Laurels" on the Merrimac)
  415. Revisited
  416. "The Laurels"
  417. June on the Merrimac
  418. Hymn (For the Opening of Thomas Starr King's House of Worship, 1864)
  419. Hymn (For the House of Worship at Georgetown, Erected in Memory of a Mother)
  420. A Spiritual Manifestation
  421. Chicago
  422. Kinsman
  423. The Golden Wedding of Longwood
  424. Hymn for the Opening of Plymouth Church, St. Paul, Minnesota
  425. Lexington 1775
  426. The Library
  427. "I Was a Stranger, and Ye Took Me In."
  428. Centennial Hymn
  429. At School-Close. Bowdoin Street, Boston, 1877
  430. Hymn of the Children
  431. The Landmarks
  432. Garden
  433. A Greeting
  434. Godspeed
  435. Winter Roses
  436. The Reunion
  437. Norumbega Hall
  438. The Bartholdi Statue 1886
  439. One of the Signers
  440. The Tent on the Beach
  441. At Sundown, to E. C. S.
  442. The Christmas of 1888
  443. The Vow of Washington
  444. The Captain's Well
  445. An Outdoor Reception
  446. R. S. S., at Deer Island on the Merrimac
  447. Burning Drift-Wood
  448. O. W. Holmes on His Eightieth Birth-Day
  449. James Russell Lowell
  450. Haverhill. 1640-1890
  451. To G. G. An Autograph
  452. Inscription
  453. Lydia H. Sigourney
  454. Milton
  455. The Birthday Wreath
  456. The Wind of March
  457. Between the Gates
  458. The Last Eve of Summer
  459. To Oliver Wendell Holmes
  460. New England
  461. To John Pierpont
  462. The Worship of Nature
  463. The Cable Hymn
  464. St. John
  465. The Knight of St. John
  466. The Legend of St. Mark
  467. Proem

See John Greenleaf Whittier in the full archive →