Background
Fitz-Greene Halleck was born on July 8, 1790 in Guilford, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Israel and Mary (Eliot) Halleck. He had an older sister Marie, and his father owned a store in the town.
Statue of Fitz-Greene Halleck in Central Park
Fitz-Greene Halleck was born on July 8, 1790 in Guilford, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Israel and Mary (Eliot) Halleck. He had an older sister Marie, and his father owned a store in the town.
As a boy, Fitz-Greene Halleck attended the Academy on Guilford Green, whose schoolmaster was then Samuel Johnson, Junior, the compiler of A School Dictionary, the first dictionary both compiled and published in the United States. He left school at 15 to work in his family's shop in Guilford.
In May 1811, the 20-year-old Fitz-Greene Halleck moved to New York City to find work. After a month of searching, he had all but given up and made plans to move to Richmond, Virginia, but he was hired by a banker named Jacob Barker. He worked for Barker for the next 20 years.
Fitz-Greene Halleck began to write with his friend Joseph Rodman Drake. In 1819 they wrote and published the anonymous Croaker Papers, which were satires of New York society. These 35 poems were published individually in The Evening Standard and National Advertiser over several months. An unauthorized collection was published in 1819 with 24 selections. They published the poems under the pseudonyms Croaker; Croaker, Jr.; and Croaker and Co., taken from a character in Oliver Goldsmith's The Good‐Natured Man.
That year, Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote his longest poem Fanny, a satire on the literature, fashions, and politics of the time. It was modeled on Byron's Beppo and Don Juan. Published anonymously in December 1819, Fanny proved so popular that soon the initial 50 cent-edition was fetching up to $10. Two years later, its continuing popularity inspired Halleck to append an additional 50 stanzas.
Both Fitz-Greene Halleck and Drake became associated with the New York writers known as the Knickerbocker Group, led by William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving, pioneers in their fields. Drake advised Fitz-Greene Halleck to pursue becoming a nationally known poet and to sit on "Appalachia's brow." He thought contemplating the immense power of American nature would inspire his friend's imagination. A medical student, Drake died in 1820 of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 25. Fitz-Greene Halleck commemorated his friend in "The Death of Joseph Rodman Drake" (1820), which begins, "Green be the turf above thee".
Sarah Eckford Drake, the student's young widow, was left with their daughter. She showed interest in having Halleck as her second husband. His satires included her as a figure, and in one he referred to her as a witch. She died young in 1828.
In 1822, Fitz-Greene Halleck visited Europe and Great Britain, which influenced his poetry. "Alnwick Castle" was written that year and refers to a stately home in Northumberland. His long poem Marco Bozzaris (1825) was dedicated to the heroic Greek freedom fighter against the Turks, showing the continuing influence of Byron's example. In 1827 Halleck published a collection, Alnwick Castle, with Other Poems, but after that his writing decreased.
By 1830 Fitz-Greene Halleck had become a kind of celebrity for his poetry, sometimes called the American Byron. In 1832, he was hired as the private secretary to John Jacob Astor. The wealthy fur trader merchant turned philanthropist later appointed him as one of the original trustees of the Astor Library of New York (the basis of the Public Library). Fitz-Greene Halleck also served as Astor's cultural tutor, advising him on pieces of art to purchase.
During this period, he was widely read and was part of New York literary society. As one of the younger members of the Knickerbocker Group, he published with them and met associated visiting writers, such as Charles Dickens. His satires were thought to challenge the era's "sacred institutions" and Halleck was known for his wit and charm.
In 1841 Fitz-Greene Halleck was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician. In 1849 he retired to his hometown of Guilford. There he lived with his unmarried sister Marie Halleck for the remainder of his life. On November 19, 1867, around 11:00 at night, he called out to his sister, "Marie, hand me my pantaloons, if you please." He died without making another sound before she could turn around. Fitz-Greene Halleck is buried at Alderbrook Cemetery in Guilford.
Fitz-Greene Halleck never married. His biographer Hallock believes that he was homosexual. He found that Halleck was enamored at the age of 19 with a young Cuban named Carlos Menie, to whom he dedicated a few of his early poems. Hallock suggests that Halleck was in love with his friend Joseph Rodman Drake.
Physical Characteristics: At the age of two, the young Fitz-Greene Halleck suffered a hearing loss when two soldiers fired off their guns next to his left ear; he was partially deaf for the remainder of his life.
Quotes from others about the person
Regarding Halleck's poem "Fanny", Edgar Allan Poe said: "to uncultivated ears... [it is] endurable, but to the practiced versifier it is little less than torture."
In the September 1843 issue of Graham's Magazine, Poe wrote that the Halleck: "has nearly abandoned the Muses, much to the regret of his friends and to the neglect of his reputation."
Fitz-Greene Halleck had several years in which he did not produce any literary works. After his death, poet William Cullen Bryant addressed the New York Historical Society on February 2, 1869, and spoke about this blank period in Halleck's career. He ultimately concluded: "Whatever the reason that Halleck ceased so early to write, let us congratulate ourselves that he wrote at all."
Fitz-Greene Halleck never married.