WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER.—A distinguished American poet and writer, born at Portland, Maine, January 20th, 1806. He graduated from Yale in 1827 and devoted himself to literature, publishing a volume in that year which was well received. He wrote between thirty and forty separate publications, in addition to editing the Evening Mirror and other periodicals including the Home Journal. Though marred by occasional affectation, the sketches of Willis are light, graceful compositions, but the artificiality of his poems have caused them to be neglected. He died at Idlewild, New York, January 20th, 1867.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM.—An illustrious English poet, born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, April 7th, 1770. He studied at Cambridge and took his B. A. degree in 1791. In 1793 (after a residence for a short time in France) he produced his first verses, entitled An Evening Walk. In 1798, a small volume entitled Lyrical Ballads, was published in conjunction with ST. Coleridge, but was not a success. In 1800, he settled in Grasmere, Westmoreland, where also resided Southey, Coleridge, de Quincy, and Wilson, to whom the critics applied the term "Lake School." In 1813 he removed to Rydal Mount, where he published The Excursion in 1814, The White Doe of Rylston, Peter Bell, The Waggoner, The Prelude, etc. In 1843 he was appointed to succeed Southey as poet-laureate. He is undoubtedly a poet of the first rank. Regarding Nature as a living and mysterious whole, constantly acting on humanity, the visible universe and its inhabitants were alike to him full of wonder, awe and mystery. His influence on the literature and poetry of Britain and America has been immense, and is yet far from being exhausted. He died April 23rd, 1850.
YOUNG, EDWARD, An English divine and poet, born at Upham, Hampshire, in 1684. He was educated at Oxford, and in 1727 was ordained and appointed to the living of Welwyn, Hertfordshire. As a poet he excels most in his Night Thoughts, which abound with ornate images, but are often very obscure. He wrote several other works. Died in 1765.