John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1893) was the American "Quaker Poet," born at Haverhill, in Massachusetts, the son of a poor farmer. He wrought, like Burns, at field work, and acquired a loving sympathy with Nature, natural people, and natural scenes. He took to journalism at length, and became a keen abolitionist and the poet-laureate of abolition. His poems are few and fugitive.

Wisdom & Quotes

• The laws of changeless justice bind

Oppressor and oppressed;
And close as sin and suffering joined,
We march to fate abreast.
- At Port Royal

• Peace hath higher tests of manhood

Than battle ever knew.
- The Hero

• For all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'
- Maud Muller

Gerard de Nerval