Richard Henry Stoddard

Bio

(1825-1903) Poet, literary critic. After an impoverished childhood and a variety of menial jobs worked as a young man, including a ten year stint in an iron foundry, Richard Stoddard (with the help of Nathaniel Hawthorne) obtained an appointment as inspector of customs in New York City. This new job gave Mr. Stoddard more time to write and pursue a literary career. When Mr. Stoddard lost the customs post in 1870, he had already become an important literary figure. His books of poetry include “Poems” (1852), “Abraham Lincoln: A Horatian Ode” (1865), and “The Lion’s Cub, with Other Verse” (1890). His most important contribution was as a critic, first in his reviews for the “New York World” (1860-1870) and then as literary editor of the “New York Mail and Express” (1880-1903). His “Recollections, Personal and Literary” (1903) is a valuable source of information on the New York literary world of the late 19th century.