Poet and essayist; born in
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 15, 1787; son of
Francis Dana; chose the profession of law, but his tastes led him into literary pursuits.
In 1814 he and others founded the
North American review, of which he was sole conductor for a while.
He closed his connection with it in 1820.
It was while
Dana was editor of the
Review that
Bryant's
Thanatopsis was published in its pages, the author being then unknown.
In 1821 the first
[
8]
volume of
The idle man was published.
It was unprofitable, and
Mr. Dana dropped it. In it he published stories and essays from his own pen. In the same year he contributed to the New York
Review (then under the care of
Mr. Bryant) his first poem of much pretension,
The dying raven.
In 1827 his most celebrated poetical production,
The buccaneer, was published, with some minor poems.
Of that production
Wilson, of
Blackwood's magazine, wrote, “It is by far the most powerful and original of American poetical compositions.”
Mr. Dana's writings were always marked by great delicacy and grace and strong individuality.
Among his most valuable prose compositions were a series of lectures upon
Shakespeare, ten in number, delivered in the winter of 1839-40 in the cities of
Boston,
New York, and
Philadelphia.
After 1833
Mr. Dana wrote but little.
He died in
Boston, Feb. 2, 1879.
