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WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF. Born at Haverhill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807; died at Hampton Falls, N.H., Sept. 7, 1892. Of Quaker ancestory; father a poor farmer; as a boy he injured his health by hard work on the farm. Taught school; attended Haverhill Academy for two terms 1827-8; edited Haverhill Gazette 1830; returned to the farm in broken health 1832. Member of Massachusetts Legislature 1835-6. An ardent opponent of slavery; edited the Pennsylvania Freeman 1838-40; several times attacked by mobs because of his views on slavery. Leading writer for the Washington _National Era _1847-57; contributed to the Atlantic Monthly 1857. Some of his well-known poems are "Maud Muller," "The Barefoot Boy," "Barbara Freitchie," "Snow-Bound," and "The Eternal Goodness." My Triumph, 90.
WIDDEMER, MARGARET. Born at Doylestown, Pa.; educated at home; graduated
at the Drexel Institute Library School 1909. Began writing in
childhood; her first published poem "The Factories" was widely quoted;
married Robert Haven Schauffler 1919. Among her books are "The
Rose-Garden Husband," "Winona of the Camp Fire," "Factories, with
Other Lyrics," "Why Not?" "The Wishing-Ring Man," "The Old Road to
Paradise," and "The Board Walk." To Youth After Pain, 103.
WILCOX, ELLA WHEELER. Born at Johnston Centre, Wis., 1855; died at her
home in Connecticut, Oct. 31, 1919. Educated "Poems of Pleasure,"
"Kingdom of Love," "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Progress," "Poems of
Sentiment," "New Thought Common Sense," "Picked Poems," "Gems from
Wilcox," "Faith," "Love," "Hope," "Cheer," and "The World and I."
Life, 139; Smiles, 226; Solitude, 16; The Disappointed, 126;
Will, 107; Wishing, 86; Worth While, 28.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM. Born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, Eng., Apr. 7, 1770; died at Rydal Mount, Apr. 23, 1850. Educated at Hawkshead grammar school and Cambridge University, where he graduated 1791. Traveled on Continent 1790; in France 1791-2, where he sympathized with the French republicans. Received £900 legacy 1795, and settled with his sister Dorothy at Racedown, Dorsetshire; to be near Coleridge he removed to Alfoxden 1797; went to Continent 1798; returned to England 1799, and settled at Grasmere in the lake district; married Mary Hutchison 1802; settled at Allan Bank 1808; removed to Grasmere 1811. Appointed distributer of stamps 1813, and settled at Rydal Mount; traveled in Scotland 1814 and 1832; on the Continent 1820 and 1837. Given a pension of £300 by Peel 1842; became poet laureate 1843. Some of his well-known poems are "The Excursion," "Tintern Abbey," "Yarrow Revisited," "The Prelude," "Intimations of Immortality," and "We Are Seven." Ode to Duty, 190; The Daffodils, 180; The Rainbow, 117.
WOTTON, SIR HENRY. Born at Bocton Malherbe, Kent, Eng., 1568; died at Eton, 1639. Educated at Winchester and Oxford; on the Continent 1588-95; became the secretary of the Earl of Essex 1595; English ambassador to Venice, Germany, etc.; became provost of Eton College 1624. Character of a Happy Life, 214.