ning: yet there is no gainsaying that she
was clever; wonderfully well instructed for those days; a keen and close
observer; often dexterous in her verse--catching betimes upon epithets
that are very picturesque: But--the Tenth Muse is too rash."

--DONALD G. MITCHELL.

Born in England, she married at sixteen and came to Boston, where she
always considered herself an exile. In 1644 her husband moved deeper
into the wilderness and there "the first professional poet of New
England" wrote her poems and brought up a family of eight children.
Her English publisher called her the "Tenth Muse, lately sprung up
in America."

CONTEMPLATION

2. Phoebus: Apollo, the Greek sun god, hence in poetry the sun.
7. delectable giving pleasure.
13. Dight: adorned.

MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH (1631-1705)

"He was, himself, in nearly all respects, the embodiment of what was
great earnest, and sad, in Colonial New England.... In spite, however,
of all offences, of all defects, there are in his poetry an irresistible
sincerity, a reality, a vividness, reminding one of similar qualities in
the prose of John Bunyan."

M. C. TYLER.

Born in England, he was brought to America at the age of seven. He
graduated from Harvard College and then became a preacher. He later
added the profession of medicine and practiced both professions.

THE DAY of DOOM

There seems to be no doubt that this poem was the most popular piece of
literature, aside from the Bible, in the New England Puritan colonies.
Children memorized it, and its considerable length made it sufficient for
many Sunday afternoons. Notice the double attempt at rhyme; the first,
third, fifth, and seventh lines rhyme within themselves; the second line
rhymes with the fourth, the sixth with the eighth. The pronunciation in
such lines as 35, 77, 79, 93, 99, 105, and 107 requires adaptation to
rhyme, as does the grammar in line 81, for example.

3. carnal: belonging merely to this world as opposed to spiritual.

11-15. See Matthew 25: 1-13.

40. wonted steads: customary places

PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832)

"The greatest poet born in America before the Revolutionary War.... His
best poems are a few short lyrics, remarkable for their simplicity,
sincerity, and love of nature."

-REUBEN P. HALLECK.

Born in New York, he graduated from Princ