Occasional Poems

John Greenleaf WhittierProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 66K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Occasional Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier. Author: Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: Dec 1, 2005

Editor's review

Occasional Poems collects Whittier’s occasional verse—poems written for particular occasions, commemorations, or people, generally short and gentler in tone than his social protest poetry. Their value lies less in advancing grand themes than in showing how a nineteenth-century American poet responded in verse to everyday public life: commemorations, greetings, celebrations, and memorials form their backdrop. The style continues Whittier’s clarity and attention to rhythm, making the poems suitable for reading aloud and useful for observing how the occasional poem works within the English tradition. Note that occasional verse depends on context; without background notes some pieces may seem flat, so readers should treat the book as supplementary material for understanding the author’s range and the atmosphere of his time, not as his representative work. The public-domain electronic edition is easy to search and excerpt, and suited to casual browsing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who know Whittier’s major work and want to explore his occasional verse
Those interested in nineteenth-century American public life and commemorative culture
Learners seeking English short poems for reading aloud and imitation
Literature enthusiasts studying the occasional poem and writing for occasions

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for strong social critique or grand narrative poetry
First-time readers who need annotations on each poem’s background
Contemporary readers who prefer modern poetic language and form

Reading tips

No need to read straight through; browse by title, choosing pieces related to commemoration and greeting.
Read two or three at a time, then restate the occasion and judge how the poem responds to it.
Choose one poem for reading-aloud practice, noting rhyme and pauses, and feel how occasional verse depends on sound.
Read alongside the author’s antislavery poems to compare his tone on public issues and on everyday occasions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is an occasional poem?

An occasional poem is written for a specific occasion, commemoration, greeting, or celebration, usually tied closely to a particular event and often short. Its value tends to lie in responding to the situation rather than in developing a grand theme independently.

Do I need to know the author first?

Systematic study is not necessary, but knowing that Whittier was a nineteenth-century American poet who wrote extensively on social themes helps explain why he also wrote such occasional verse. With no background at all, some pieces may seem flat.

Does this e-book include notes and an introduction?

As a public-domain electronic text, it mainly provides the poems themselves and usually includes no detailed notes or introduction. Readers who want to know the specific occasion of each poem must consult the author’s biography and related historical materials separately.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

John Greenleaf Whittier Author · American · 1807–1892

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) was an American poet and abolitionist, a Quaker, and one of the nineteenth-century "Fireside Poets," born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He devoted himself early to the anti-slavery cause, edited several abolitionist newspapers, and gave voice to the movement in verse collected in volumes such as the Anti-Slavery Poems. His poetry ranges widely: the narrative poem Snow-Bound depicts New England country life and family memory in plain, homely language, while other works include nature poems, subjective and reminiscent pieces, religious poems, and legendary narrative poems such as The Tent on the Beach. His writing is simple and warm in feeling, marked by strong local color and moral concern. The library holds 44 of his works. Public information is limited, so this note gives only the main points of his life and writing.