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of the past that merged American and Europeantraditions. He wrote three long narrative poemspopularizing native legends in European meters— “Evangeline” (1847), “The Song of Hiawatha”(1855), and “The Courtship of Miles Standish”(1858).Longfellow also wrote textbooks on modernlanguages and a travel book entitled Outre-Mer,retelling foreign legends and patterned afterWashington Irving’s Sketch Book. Although conventionality,sentimentality, and facile handlingmar the long poems, haunting short lyrics like“The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” (1854), “MyLost Youth” (1855), and “The Tide Rises, TheTide Falls” (1880) continue to give pleasure.James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)James Russell Lowell, who became professorof modern languages at Harvard after Longfellowretired, is the Matthew Arnold of American literature.He began as a poet but gradually lost hispoetic ability, ending as a respected critic andeducator. As editor of the Atlantic and co-editorof the North American Review, Lowell exercisedenormous influence. Lowell’s A Fable for Critics(1848) is a funny and apt appraisal of Americanwriters, as in his comment: “There comes Poe,with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge / Three-fifthsof him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge.”Under his wife’s influence, Lowell became aliberal reformer, abolitionist, and supporter ofwomen’s suffrage and laws ending child labor.His Biglow Papers, First Series (1847-48), createsHosea Biglow, a shrewd but uneducated villagepoet who argues for reform in dialect poetry.Benjamin Franklin and Phillip Freneau had usedintelligent villagers as mouthpieces for socialcommentary. Lowell writes in the same vein, linkingthe colonial “character” tradition with thenew realism and regionalism based on dialectthat flowered in the 1850s and came to fruition inMark Twain.Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)Oliver Wendell Holmes, a celebrated physicianand professor of anatomy and physiology atHarvard, is the hardest of the three well-knownBrahmins to categorize because his work ismarked by a refreshing versatility. It encompassescollections of humorous essays (for example,The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858), novels(Elsie Venner, 1861), biographies (RalphWaldo Emerson, 1885), and verse that could besprightly (“The Deacon’s Masterpiece, or, TheWonderful One-Hoss Shay”), philosophical(“The Chambered Nautilus”), or fervently patriotic(“Old Ironsides”).Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the suburbof Boston that is home to Harvard, Holmes wasthe son of a prominent local minister. His motherwas a descendant of the poet Anne Bradstreet.In his time, and more so thereafter, hesymbolized wit, intelligence, and charm not as adiscoverer or a trailblazer, but rather as anexemplary interpreter of everything from societyand language to medicine and human nature.TWO REFORMERSew England sparkled with intellectual energyin the years before the Civil War. Someof the stars that shine more brightly todaythan the famous constellation of Brahmins weredimmed by poverty or accidents of gender orrace in their own time. Modern readers increasinglyvalue the work of abolitionist JohnGreenleaf Whittier and feminist and socialreformer Margaret Fuller.NJohn Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)John Greenleaf Whittier, the most active poetof the era, had a background very similar to WaltWhitman’s. He was born and raised on a modestQuaker farm in Massachusetts, had little formaleducation, and worked as a journalist. Fordecades before it became popular, he was anardent abolitionist. Whittier is respected for33