John Greenleaf Whittier:
(Haverhill, Massachusetts, 17 December 1807 – 7 September 1892 Hampton Falls, New Hampshire).
American Quaker, reformer and poet who belonged to the group of the Fireside Poets. Whittier was a pioneer in regional literature and a passionate campaigner for humanitarian causes, especially the abolition of slavery. His first poems were published in 1826 by his friend William Lloyd Garrison. From 1828 to 1832, Whittier edited and wrote stories, sketches and poems. His first two published books, Legends of New England (1831) and the poem Moll Pitcher (1832), deal with everyday life in the county.
The sun that brief December day rose cheerless over hills of gray, and darkly circled, gave at noon a sadder light than the waning moon.
Oh for boyhood’s time of June, crowding years in one brief moon when all things I heard or saw, me, their master, waited for.
Up from the sea, the wild north wind is blowing Under the sky’s gray arch; Smiling, I watch the shaken elm-boughs, knowing It is the wind of March.
