GRENVILLE MELLEN - AUTOGRAPH POEM SIGNED 09/1829 - HFSID 169485

GRENVILLE MELLEN
This eloquently written poem about a willow tree and a stepping stone is signed by the poet
Autograph poem signed: "Grenville Mellen" in black ink. 1 page, 5x8. September, 1829. In full: "A gallant effusion, on the presentings to the author, of Napoleon's willow, and Ellen Douglas' little stepping stone./Dear Aunt, with reverence due, I take/the pebble and the willow-/What glorious memories they wake/around the poet's pillow!/Napoleon's shroud-fair Douglas' smile/Loch Katrine's shore, and Helen's Isle!/Away, unhallow's questioner/whose slow heart would disown/the very bough that kiss'd the bier/of Gaul's triumphant son!/'Tis the true sign- and, by the rood,/I would not doubt it if I could!/And, pebble, as I gaze on thee /comes back each beaming feature/of the Lake-maiden- flush'd and free,/that all-imperial creature!/Yes-yes! Thou art the stone that rung/Where the sandall'd foot of Ellen sprung!" Grenville Mellen (1799-1841) was an American lawyer and poet. He studied at Harvard College and was class poet for his 1818 graduation class. He attended Harvard Law School for two years and then clerked in his father's law office. Mellen did not become known as a writer until he was about twenty-five years old. He was then one of the contributors to the Cambridge United States Literary Gazette. In the early part of 1827, he published a satire entitled Our Chronicle of Twenty-six, and two years afterward, "Glad Tales and Sad Tales", a collection of prose sketches, which had previously been printed in the periodicals. The Martyr's Triumph, Buried Valley, and other Poems, appeared in 1834. He served for a short period as editor of the Portland Advertiser. In 1830, he delivered the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa poem, "The Age of Print." He co-edited the Monthly Miscellany and continued his writing in New York and Maine. Toned. Corners rounded. Normal mailing folds. Small stains and ink smudges near top margin. Pencil note (unknown hand) in bottom margin. Mounting residue on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.