Bibliography

Currier, Thomas Franklin. A Bibliography of John Greenleaf Whittier. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1937, 16 p.

Bibliography prepared by the early twentieth century's leading Whittier scholar.

Von Frank, Albert J. Whittier: A Comprehensive Annotative Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1976, 273 p.

Considered one of the most complete Whittier bibliographies.

Whittier, John Greenleaf. The Complete Poetical Works of Whittier. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1894, 542 p.

Includes an annotated bibliography with biographical sketch and introduction written by Whittier.

Biography

Pickard, Samuel T. Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., Riverside Press, 1894.

The "official" biography sanctioned by Whittier before his death. Although Pickard's biography greatly romanticizes Whittier's political motivation, the work is still considered a standard source for its broad survey of Whittier's letters and memoirs.

Pollard, John A. John Greenleaf Whittier: Friend of Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., Riverside Press, 1949, 615 p.

A lengthy biography of Whittier which provides several helpful appendices. Pollard includes a bibliography as well as extensive notes concerning Whittier's lineage.

Wagenknecht, Edward. John Greenleaf Whittier: A Portrait in Paradox. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967, 262 p.

Describes Whittier in terms of various paradoxes that Wagenknecht believes to have shaped the poet's life, politics, and poetry.

Criticism

Boynton, H. W. "John Greenleaf Whittier: An Appreciation, Apropos of the Poet's Centenary." Putnam's Monthly III, No. 3 (December 1907): 274-80.

Suggests that Whittier be remembered and commended not for the quality of his poems, but for his song-like descriptions of nature and sentimental themes.

Budick, E. Miller. "The Immortalizing Power of Imagination: A Reading of Whittier's Snow-Bound." Emerson Society Quarterly 31, No. 2 (2nd Quarter, 1985): 89-99.

Discusses how Whittier comes to terms with the problem of mortality in Snow-Bound.

Carey, George G. "Whittier's Roots in a Folk Culture." Essex Institute Historical Collections CIV, No. 1 (January 1968): 3-18.

Places Whittier and his poetry in the context of New England story-telling and folk traditions.

Kribbs, Jayne K. Introduction to Critical Essays on John Greenleaf Whittier, pp. xiii-xl. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1980.

Provides a brief biography of Whittier's personal and literary life as well as an introduction to nineteenth- and twentieth-century critical reception of his works.

Leary, Lewis. "A Note on Whittier's Margaret Smith." Emerson Society Quarterly 50 (1st Quarter, 1968): 75-8.

Describes Whittier's one novel as a "minor classic" and praises its celebration of the human spirit.

McEuen, Kathryn Anderson. "Whittier's Rhymes." American Speech XX, No. 1 (February 1945): 51-7.

By placing Whittier's rhymes in the context of regional New England pronunciation, refutes critics who label his rhyming "faulty."

Meek, Frederick M. "Whittier the Religious Man." Emerson Society Quarterly 50 (1st Quarter, 1968): 86-92.

Examines the deep religious roots of Whittier's life and the influence of his religious poetry on American literature and society.

Pickard, John B. "Whittier's Abolitionist Poetry." Emerson Society Quarterly 50 (1st Quarter, 1968): 105-15.

Suggests new ways of approaching Whittier's abolitionist poetry in terms of its artistic merit, rather than its biographical and historical significance.

Smythe, Daniel W. "Whittier and the New Critics." Emerson Society Quarterly 50 (1st Quarter, 1968): 22-6.

Defends Whittier's poetical skills against dismissive comments by proponents of the "New Criticism," a theoretical approach to literature, popular in the early twentieth century, that maintained works of literature or other artwork should be evaluated without reference to their historical, social, or biographical environments.

Additional coverage of Whittier's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Gale Research: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 1; and Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, 1640-1865.