Sumner Lincoln Fairfield (June 25, 1803 – March 6, 1844) was an American poet, born in Warwick, Massachusetts

Warwick, Massachusetts

Warwick is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 750 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

 to Dr. Abner Fairfield and Lucy Lincoln. From 1818 to 1820, he studied at Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, but he was compelled to leave after 2 years. He taught school in Georgia and South Carolina. In December 1825 he spent 4 months in England and when he returned he married Jane Frazee on September 20, 1826. Sumner had a very sensitive and melancholy personality and according to his wife Jane, "His nature was haughty, unbending, and reserved; he could not brook personal or newspaper attacks. I have seen him writhe under mental pain even upon a criticism of a poem."

Principal works

• The Battle of Borodino. 1821
• The Siege of Constantinople A Poem. 1822
• Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Lucy Fairfield. 1823
• Poems. 1823
• Lays of Melpomene. 1824
• Mina A Dramatic Sketch, with Other Poems. 1825
• The Sisters of St. Clara. 1825
• The Passage of the Sea A Poem : with Other Pieces. 1826
• The Heir of the World, And Lesser Poems. 1829
• Abaddon, the Spirit of Destruction; And Other Poems. 1830
• The Last Night of Pompeii A Poem, and Lays and Legends. 1832
• The Poems and Prose Writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield In Two Volumes ; Vol. I. 1841

External links

• archive.org