William Ross Wallace
William Ross Wallace (1819 – May 5, 1881) was an American poet, with Scottish roots, best known for writing "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World".
Early life[edit]
Wallace was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1819.[a] His father, a Presbyterian preacher, died when Wallace was an infant.[1]
Wallace was educated at Indiana University and Hanover College, Indiana, and studied law in Lexington, Kentucky.
Career[edit]
In 1841, he moved to New York City, where he practiced law, and at the same time engaged in literary pursuits.[2] "Perdita", a poem, was his first work. Published in the Union Magazine, it attracted favorable criticism and was followed by "Alban" (1848), a poetical romance, and "Meditations in America" (1851). Other poems that attained popularity include "The Sword of Bunker Hill" (1861), a national hymn; "Keep Step with the Music of the Union" (1861); "The Liberty Bell" (1862); and his most famous poem, "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World" (1865), a poem praising motherhood.[2][3] He contributed to Godey's Lady's Book, Harper's Magazine, Harper's Weekly, the New York Ledger, and the Louisville Daily Journal.[3] William Cullen Bryant said of his writings: "They are marked by a splendor of imagination and an affluence of diction which show him the born poet."[2] Edgar Allan Poe, a friend of Wallace, referred to him as "one of the very noblest of American poets".[4] Wallace died at his home in New York City on May 5, 1881, a week after suffering a stroke.[5] He was working on a book to be titled Pleasures of the Beautiful at the time of his death.[5]
Personal life[edit]
Wallace married his second wife Ann Polhemus Riker, the daughter of Daniel Riker (1771–1828) and Helen Polhemus (1783–?), in October 1856. They had two daughters and a son.[6]
Books by Wallace[edit]
- The Battle of Tippecanoe, Triumphs of Science, and Other Poems (1837)
- Wordsworth: A Poem (1846)
- Alban the Pirate: A Romaunt of the Metropolis (1848)
- Meditations in America, and Other Poems (1851)
- Prattsville, an American Poem (1852)
- The Loved and the Lost (1856)
- Progress of the United States: Henry Clay, an Ode "Of Thine Own Country Sing" (1856)
- Patriotic and Heroic Eloquence: A Book for the Patriot, Statesman and Student (1861)
- The Liberty Bell (1862)
Notes[edit]
- ^ Wallace's obituary in The New York Times lists his place of birth as Paris, Kentucky. Most sources state he was born in Lexington, however.
- ^ Coggeshall, William T. (1860). Poets and Poetry of the West. New York: Follett, Foster, and Company. pp. 227–37.
- ^ a b c Wilson & Fiske 1891.
- ^ a b Johannsen, Albert (1950). House of Beadle & Adams and its Dime and Nickel Novels: The Story of a Vanished Literature. University of Oklahoma Press.
- ^ Willis, Nathaniel Parker; James Russell Lowell (1857). The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe. Vol. 3. J. S. Redfield. pp. 240–241.
- ^ a b "Death Of Wm. Ross Wallace. Poems That He Wrote, His Illness, And His Friendship With Poe". The New York Times. May 7, 1881.
- ^ "Wallace, William Ross (1819-1881)". pfaffs.web.lehigh.edu. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
References[edit]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). "Wallace, William Ross". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
External links[edit]
- Works by William Ross Wallace at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Ross Wallace at Internet Archive
- Works by William Ross Wallace at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works with text by Wallace on IMSLP
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