Grenville Mellen
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Grenville Mellen (June 19, 1799—September 5, 1841) was an American poet and lawyer, and the eldest son of Supreme Court Chief-Justice
Prentiss Mellen Prentiss Mellen (October 11, 1764December 31, 1840) was a lawyer, politician, and jurist from Massachusetts and Maine. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Harvard, Mellen served for two years as a United States Senator from Massachusetts, an ...
.


Biography

Grenville Mellen, born June 19, 1799, in Biddeford, Maine, was the son of Supreme Court Chief-Justice Prentiss Mellen and Sarah Mellen (née Hudson). He graduated from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1818, thereafter entering the field of law, and studied law with his father before being admitted to the bar. During this time, he was married and settled in
North Yarmouth, Maine North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
in 1823, to practice law. In October, 1828, both his wife and only child died. It is remarked that after the death of his wife and child, his character was changed: "He had before been an ambitious and a happy man. The remainder of his life was clouded with melancholy." Following this tragic loss, he removed to Boston. During this time, he began to write poetry for various journals, including the ''United States Literary Gazette'', and began publishing satires, prose, and poetry. Five years later, he moved to New York, where he resided until summer of 1840. Due to declining health, and eventually contracting a form of consumption, he removed to Cuba. Unsatisfied with the results of the warmer climate, he moved back to New York during Spring of 1841. Being attributed to both consumption and the death of his father, he died in New York City September 5, 1841.


Reception

Mellen was a prolific writer, especially known amongst contemporaneous 19th century literati. His work received mixed reviews.
Rufus Wilmot Griswold Rufus Wilmot Griswold (February 13, 1815 – August 27, 1857) was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New Y ...
remarks in ''
The Poets and Poetry of America ''The Poets and Poetry of America'' was a popular anthology of American poetry collected by American literary critic and editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold. It was first published in 1842 and went into several editions throughout the 19th century. Back ...
'' (1842): "As a poet, he enjoyed a higher reputation in his lifetime than his works will preserve. They are without vigour of thought or language, and are often dreamy, mystic, and unintelligible. In his writings there is no evidence of creative genius; no original, clear, and manly thought; no spirited and natural descriptions of life or nature; no humour, no pathos, no passion; nothing that appeals to the common sympathies of mankind." In ''A Chapter on Autography''
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, another contemporary writer, describes Mellen as being "flighty, hyper-fanciful", and as having "unsettled and often erroneous ideas of the beautiful". Furthermore, he states, "Mr. Mellen has genius unquestionably, but there is something in his temperament which obscures it." Editor Michael Laird Simmons exclaims (1875), "A glance at his poems shows a delicate susceptibility to poetical impression, tinged with an air of melancholy."


Selected works

* ''The Rest of the Nations: A Poem'' (1826) * ''Our Chronicle of '26: A Satirical Poem'' (1827) * ''Sad Tales and Glad Tales'', as by Reginald Reverie (1828) * ''The Martyr's Triumph: Buried Valley; and Other poems'' (1833) * ''A Book of the United States: Exhibiting Its Geography, Divisions, Constitution, and Government'', credited as editor (1839)


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellen, Grenville 1799 births 1841 deaths American poets Harvard University alumni 19th-century American lawyers