ABSTRACT
John Greenleaf Whittier was poet, editor, essayist, and abolitionist and a dedicated Quaker known for his nostalgic poems and popular hymns and for his contributions to the nineteenth-century antislavery movement. He was a member of the Fireside Poets, largely conventional verse on patriotic themes, domestic life, and picturesque scenery made them as popular as any poets in Britain. Whittier's reputation lies primarily on such poems as the idyllic Vermont narrative Snow-Bound and the patriotic Civil War ballad Barbara Fritchie and such hymns as Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. In 1826, without Whittier's knowledge, his sister Mary sent his poem The Exile's Departure to William Lloyd Garrison, the young editor of the Free Press in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Whittier's deep Quaker commitment to pacifism and tolerance, coupled with his close friendship with Garrison, led him to embrace the abolitionist cause with unwavering passion. A committed pacifist, Whittier nevertheless strongly supported President Abraham Lincoln and the Union cause in the Civil War.
