John James Piatt (March 1, 1835February 16, 1917) was an American poet.

Early life and education

John James Piatt was born on March 1, 1835, in James' Mills,

Dearborn County, Indiana Dearborn County is one of 92 counties of the U.S. state of Indiana located on the Ohio border near the southeast corner of the state. It was formed in 1803 from a portion of Hamilton County, Ohio. In 2020, the population was 50,679. The county ...

, to Emily (Scott) and John Bear Piatt. The town was later called

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

and relocated to

Ohio County, Indiana Ohio County is a county located in southeastern Indiana. With a 2020 population of 5,940, and an area of just 87 square miles, Ohio County is the smallest county in Indiana by area and the least populous. The county seat and only incorporated m ...

. The Piatts moved to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

, when John James was six. He attended

Capital University Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...

and

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...

Career

Piatt was on staff at the ''Ohio State Journal'' (later ''

The Columbus Citizen-Journal ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' was a daily morning newspaper in Columbus, Ohio published by the Scripps Howard company. It was formed in 1959 by the merger of ''The Columbus Citizen'' and ''The Ohio State Journal''. It shared printing facilit ...

'') with

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

, with whom he wrote ''Poems of Two Friends'' (1860). He published some poems in the ''Louisville Journal'' (later ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...

'') in 1857 and then became an editor of the paper. He started publishing in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' in 1860. Piatt married Sarah Morgan Bryan on June 18, 1861. They lived in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C., where John became a clerk and then librarian of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. Sarah and John James published two books together: ''The Nests at Washington, and Other Poems'' (1869) and ''The Children Out-of-Doors'' (1885). According to the ''Cambridge History of American Literature'', Sarah and John James's poems were not interesting for their literary merit but only for their thematization of the American West. Around 1882, Piatt became a United States

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, and later in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He came back to the United States in 1893, settling in

North Bend, Ohio North Bend is a village in Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. It is a part of the Greater Cincinnati area. The population was 857 at the 2010 census. History North Bend was founded in 1789. It was pla ...

. According to the ''

Dictionary of American Biography The ''Dictionary of American Biography'' was published in New York City by Charles Scribner's Sons under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). History The dictionary was first proposed to the Council in 1920 by h ...

'', "Piatt's poetry shows the regular

meters The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

of his time, but is original and varied in subject mater and appreciative of natural beauty, literary associations, and human feeling." He was sometimes considered a poet of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, the Ohio Valley, or the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. Contemporary reviewers thought his poems were "cheerful, pleasant, and sunny". Leonidas Warren Payne Jr. considered Piatt one of the "minor poets of the West". He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 16, 1917.

Books

* ''Poems of Two Friends'', with

(1860) * ''Poems in Sunshine and Firelight'' (1866) * ''The Nests at Washington, and Other Poems'', with

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (Sallie M. Bryan; August 11, 1836 – December 22, 1919) was an American poet. Her career began in the mid-1850s and lasted into the early twentieth century. She published hundreds of poems in nationally circulated newsp ...

(1869) * ''Western Windows, and Other Poems'' (1869) * ''Landmarks'' (1872) * ''Pencilled Fly-Leaves: A Book of Essays in Town and Country'' (1880) * ''Idyls and Lyrics of the Ohio Valley'' (1881) * ''The Children Out-of-Doors'', with Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (1885) * ''At the Holy Well'' (1887) * ''A Book of Gold, and Other Sonnets'' (1889) * ''Little New-World Idyls'' (1893) * ''Odes in Ohio'' (1897)

Early life and education

Career

Books

References

Further reading