Thomas William Parsons (1819-1892). Courtesy New York Public Library.
Thomas William Parsons (August 18, 1819 - September 3, 1892)[1] was an American poet and a translator of Dante.
Life[]
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Parsons was educated at the Boston Latin School. He visited Italy to study the Italian language and literature in 1836-1837.[2]
In 1840, at the age of 21, he became proprietor of the Boston Atheneum. He published his most famous original poem, "On a Bust of Dante," in the Boston Advertister at age 22.[3]
His translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, which eventually comprised all the Inferno, 2/3 of the Purgatorio, and fragments of the Paradiso,[4] began to appear in 1843.[2]
After practicing dentistry in Boston, he lived for several years in England before returning to Boston in 1872. [5] He was a contributor to The Galaxy and The Atlantic Monthly.[2]
In 1857 he married Anna (or Hannah) M. Allen (1821-1881).[6] On her death in 1881, he wrote and privately circulated 4 poems to her memory, including "Into the Noiseless Country."[3]
He died of apoplexy during a stroke in Scituate, Massachusetts, where he was being cared for by a nurse, and was found dead in a well.[3]
Recognition[]
Parsons received an honorary A.M. degree from Harvard in 1853.[6]
His incomplete translation of Dante's Divine Comedy was published in full posthumously in 1893, edited by Charles Eliot Norton, and with a memorial sketch by Louise Imogen Guiney.[7]
In popular culture[]
Parsons is said to have served as the model for "The Poet" in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn."[6]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854.
- The Rosary. Cambridge, MA: J. Wilson, 1865.
- The Magnolia. Cambridge, MA: J. Wilson, 1866.
- The Shadow of the Obelisk, and other poems. London: Hatchard's, 1872.
- The Willey House, and sonnets. Boston: J. Wilson, 1875.
- Ode for the Dedication of the Bunker Hill Tablets (pamphlet). [Boston?: [1889?]
Translated[]
- Dante Alighieri, The First Ten Cantos of the Inferno. Boston: privately printed by W.D. Ticknor, 1843.
- The First Canticle, Inferno, of the Divine Comedy. Boston: DeVries, Ibarra, 1867.
- The Ante-Purgatorio. London: Hatchards, 1876.
- The Divine Comedy(edited by Charles Eliot Norton; with memorial sketch by Louise Imogen Guiney). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1893.
Letters[]
- Letters (edited by Zoltán Haraszti & Austin Warren). Boston: Public Library, 1940.
Her Epitaph Thomas William Parsons Short Poetry Collection 039
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[7]
Poems by Thomas William Parsons[]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Underwood, F.H., Builders of American literature, 1893
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Drake, F. S., Dictionary of American biography, 1870
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tricia Patterson, "Thomas William Parsons, Boston Atheneum, January 2013. Web, Sep. 2, 2018.
- ↑ Hart, J.D., Oxford companion to American literature, 1941
- ↑ Appleton's cyclopaedia of American biography, 6 vols, 1888
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Historical Note," Parsons, Thomas William, 1819-1892. Papers: Guide. Houghton Library, Harvard College Library. Harvard.edu, Web, Sep. 11, 2011.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Search results = au:Thomas William Parsons, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 19, 2013.
External links[]
- Poems
- "A Song for September "
- "On a Bust of Dante"
- "Dirge"
- Parsons in the Yale Book of American Verse: "On a Bust of Dante," "Mary Booth," "Her Epitaph," "Obituary," "Paradisi Gloria," "Saint Peray," "
- Parsons in An American Anthology: "On a Bust of Dante," "Dirge," "Mary Booth," "Her Epitaph," "To a Young Girl Dying," "Into the Noiseless Country," "Andrew," "Obituary," "To a Lady," "Like as the Lark," "O Ye Sweet Heavens," "{https://www.bartleby.com/248/401.html Paradisi Gloria]
- Books
- Thomas William Parsons at Amazon.com
- Works by or about Thomas William Parsons in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- About
- Thomas William Parsons at Boston Atheneum
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