Richard Henry Stoddard (July 2, 1825May 12, 1903) was an American critic and poet.

Biography

Richard Henry Stoddard was born on July 2, 1825, in

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in northern Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Part of the Greater Boston region, it is located on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore of Massachusetts. At the 2020 ...

. His father, a sea-captain, was wrecked and lost on one of his voyages while Richard was a child, and the lad went in 1835 to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with his mother, who had married again. He attended the public schools of that city. He became a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and later an iron moulder, reading much poetry at the same time. His talents brought him into contact with young men interested in literature, notably with

Bayard Taylor Bayard Taylor (January 11, 1825December 19, 1878) was an American poet, literary critic, translator, travel author, and diplomat. As a poet, he was very popular, with a crowd of more than 4,000 attending a poetry reading once, which was a record ...

, who had just published his ''Views Afoot''. In 1849 he gave up his industrial trades and began to write for a living. He contributed to the ''Union Magazine'', the '' Knickerbocker Magazine'', ''Putnam's Monthly Magazine'' and the ''New York Evening Post''.He married Elizabeth Drew Barstow in 1852; she was also a novelist and poet. The next year,

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

helped him to secure the appointment of inspector of customs of the Port of New York. He kept this job until 1870. From 1870 to 1873, he was confidential clerk to

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...

in the New York dock department, and from 1874 to 1875 city librarian of New York. He was literary reviewer for the ''New York World'' (1860–1870); one of the editors of '' Vanity Fair''; editor of '' The Aldine'' (1869–1879), and literary editor of the ''Mail'' and the ''Mail and Express'' (1880–1903). He died in New York on May 12, 1903.

Critical response and legacy

In his parody of contemporary writers, ''The Echo Club (1876)'', Bayard Taylor placed Stoddard as one of the most important critics of the day, alongside

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

and George Ripley. More important than his critical was his poetical work, which at its best is sincere, original and marked by delicate fancy, and felicity of form; and his songs have given him a high and permanent place among American lyric poets. Stoddard’s 1856 poem "Roses and Thorns", in a Russian translation by Aleksey Pleshcheyev, was set for voice and piano by

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

as "

Legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

", No. 5 from "Sixteen Songs for Children", Op. 54. The song, in turn, was the basis of

Anton Arensky Anton Stepanovich Arensky (; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Biography Arensky was born into an affluent, music-loving family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and ha ...

's Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a, for string orchestra. Composer

Addie Anderson Wilson Addie Anderson Wilson (August 17, 1876 – October 8, 1966) was an American composer, organist and carillonist who was born in Lawrenceville, Alabama, and lived in Alabama for most of her life. She studied music with Mary Carr Moore and M. Wilson. ...

set Stoddard’s poem “Under the Rose” to music for voice and piano in 1920. Composer Emily Bruce Roelofson used Stoddard’s text for her song “Sea Shell.”

Bibliography

As editor

*''The Loves and Heroines of the Poets'' (1861) *''Melodies and Madrigals, Mostly from the old English Poets'' (1865) *''The Late English Poets'' (1865), selections * Griswold's '' The Poets and Poetry of America'' (1872) *''Female Poets of America'' (1874) *''The Bric-a-Brac Series'', in 10 vols. (1874–1876) *''English Verse'', in 5 vols., edited with W. J. Linton (1883) *Four editions of Poe's works, with a memoir (1872–1894)

As poet

*''Footprints'' (1849), privately printed and afterwards suppressed by the author *''Poems'' (1852) *''Adventures in Fairyland'' (1853) *''Town and Country'' (1857) *''The Story of

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

'' (1864) *''Songs of Summer'' (1857) *''The King's Bell'' (1862), one of his most popular narrative poems *''

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

: An Horatian Ode'' (1865), published in ''The Lincoln Memorial: A Record of the Life, Assassination, and Obsequies of the Martyred President'', New York: Bunce & Huntington, 1865, pp. 273–278. *''The Book of the East'' (1867) *''Poems'' (1880), a collective edition *''The Lion's Cub, with Other Verse'' (1890)

Prose

*''Life, Travels and Books of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

'' (1860) *''Under the Evening Lamp'' (1892), essays dealing mainly with the modern English poets *''Recollections Personal and Literary'' (1903), edited by

Ripley Hitchcock Ripley Hitchcock (born James Ripley Wellman Hitchcock; 1857–1918) was a prominent American editor. He edited the works of Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Zane Grey, Joel Chandler Harris, Stephen Crane and Theodore Dreiser. Biography Rip ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoddard, Richard Henry 19th-century American poets American male poets 1825 births 1903 deaths American blacksmiths Moldmakers 19th-century American male writers United States Customs Service personnel