Text: James B. Reece, “Gulian G. Verplanck,” Poe's Poe and the New York Literati Story, dissertation, 1954 (This material is protected by copyright)

[page 320, continued:]

Gulian Grommelin Verplanck (1786-1870) was a member of an [page 321:] old and affluent family of New York. Following his graduation from Columbia College in 1801, before he was fifteen, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1807. In 1811 he married Eliza Fenno, the sister of Charles Fenno Hoffman's mother. She died six years later and Verplanck never remarried.

Verplanck's first published writing, a political pamphlet signed “Abimeleck Coody,” appeared in 1811, and in 1814 he supplied biographical sketches and book reviews for Irving's Analectic Magazine. His participation in the commencement riot at Columbia College in 1811 made him an enemy of De Witt Clinton, then mayor of New York and later governor of the state. The antagonism continued for several years and resulted in “The Bucktail Bards,” a series of political satires aimed chiefly at Clinton and published in the New York American in 1819. This joint production of Verplanck, John Duer, and Randolph Bunner was published in the same year in a volume entitled The State Triumvirate, a Political Tale; and the Epistles of Brevet Major Pindar Puff. Verplanck, Bryant, and Robert Sands wrote the poems, essays, and tales published in The Talisman, an annual which made three appearances (1828-1830). Other works by Verplanck include An Essay on the Doctrine of Contracts (1825), Discourses and Addresses on Subjects of American History, Arts, and Literature (1833) and an edition of Shakespeare's Plays (3 vols., 1847).

Verplanck served for seven years in the state legislature (1821-1824, 1838-1842) and for eight years in Congress (1825-1833). From 1821 until 1825 he taught at the General Theological Seminary in New York. From 1848 until his death he was president [page 322:] of the Board of Commissioners of Emigration. He did little literary work after 1847. During his last three decades he lived chiefly at his estate at Fishkill, New York.(1)

Poe knew of Verplanck's contributions to The Talisman,(2) but nowhere in his few comments on that author does he show evidence of more than a superficial acquaintance with Verplanck's writings. In an “Autography” paper Poe wrote that Verplanck's “orations, reviews, and other compositions all evince the cultivated belles-lettres scholar, and man of intellect and taste,” and agreed with “the general view of his merits.”(3) In the “Literati” sketch Poe failed to mention any of Verplanck's works by title. “His best, if not his principal works,” Poe wrote here, “have been addresses, orations and contributions to the reviews. His scholarship is more than respectable, and his taste and acumen are not to be disputed.” Poe's chief concern in the sketch was with Verplanck's activities in Congress and with his appearance and personality.(4)

The personal comment in the “Literati” sketch comprises the only evidence of acquaintance between the two.

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