Dana Richard Henry

Dana, Richard Henry, poet, may be regarded as the father of American literature. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1787, and educated at Harvard, he was called to the bar in 1811, but, abandoning law as a profession, in 1814, in conjunction with his friend Bryant, edited the North American Review, and in 1821, with Bryant and Allston, was joint proprietor of the Idle Man. In 1827 appeared his volume of poems, entitled the Buccaneer and other Poems, and in 1833 his Collection of Prose and Verse. He obtained considerable popularity as a lecturer, but, though a sound critic, his poetry does not reach a high standard. He died in 1879.