The New Student's Reference Work/Halleck, Fitz-Greene

Hal'leck (hāl'lěk), Fitz=Greene, an American poet was born at Guilford, Conn., July 8, 1790. By his mother he was descended from John Eliot, "the Apostle of the Indians." He was a bank-clerk in New York, and in 1822 became the private seretary of John Jacob Astor, who left him an annuity on which he retired to his native town in 1849. He began to write at an early age, and in 1819 he contributed, with Joseph Rodman Drake, a series of papers in verse to the New York Evening Post. In the same year he published his longest poem, Fanny, a satire on the literature, fashions and politics of the time. His famous poem, Marco Bozzaris, and the beautiful tribute to Burns appeared in 1822. He published a collection of his poems in 1827 and an enlarged edition in 1845. In 1865 he published his poem, Young America. He died on Nov. 19, 1867. His complete Poetical Writings, edited by his biographer, appeared in 1869. See his Life and Letters, edited by James Grant Wilson.