Born in New York, he practiced medicine there. He died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five, and left behind him manuscript verses which were later published by his daughter. "The Culprit Fay," from which selections are here given, is generally considered one of the best productions of early American literature.
THE AMERICAN FLAG
6. milky baldric: the white band supposed by the ancients to circle the earth and called the zodiac. He may here mean the Milky Way as part of this band.
46. careering: rushing swiftly.
47. bellied: rounded, filled out by the gale.
56. welkin: sky.
THE CULPRIT FAY
25. ising-stars: particles of mica.
30. minim: smallest. What objection may be made to this word?
37. Ouphe: elf or goblin.