The story of his life is as melancholy as was his genius.
Wild, dissipated, reckless, he was dismissed from West Point. He
alienated his best friends and lived the greatest part of his life in
the deepest poverty, dying in 1849 from the effects of dissipation
and exposure. His best poems are "The Raven," "The Bells," and
"Annabel Lee."
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
August 29, 1809. He was educated at Harvard College and studied
medicine, spending two years in the hospitals of Europe. He was
successively professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Dartmouth
College, a physician in regular practice in Boston, and professor of
anatomy at Harvard College--this position he held from 1847 to 1882.
He was nearly fifty before he became widely known as a writer, when
"The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" was published. He was successful
as essayist, novelist, poet, a kindly wit playing through much of his
work. His best-known poems are "Old Ironsides," "The Chambered
Nautilus," "The One-hoss Shay," "The Last Leaf," and "The Boys." He
died in 1894.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
February 22, 1819. He was educated at Harvard College. He succeeded
Longfellow as professor of Modern Languages and Literature at
Harvard. He was also editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_ and of
the _North American Review_. He was appointed minister to Spain
and later to England, where he was our ambassador for five years.
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