The American Byron: Homosexuality and the Fall of Fitz-Greene HalleckHailed in the mid-nineteenth century as the most important American poet of the period, Fitz-Greene Halleck was a close friend of William C. Bryant, an associate of Charles Dickens and Washington Irving, and a celebrity sought out by John Jacob Astor and American presidents. Halleck, an attractive man of wit and charm, was dubbed "the American Byron" because he both employed similar poetic strategies and challenged the most sacred institutions of his day. A large general readership enjoyed his verse, though it was infused with homosexual themes. Indeed, Halleck's love for another man would be fictionalized in Bayard Taylor's novel Joseph and His Friend a century before the Stonewall riots. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 25
... crime deserved , " which for boys over fourteen was by hanging.32 Sodomites were still regarded as essentially English in Ben Franklin's " Edict by the King of Prussia , " which threatened to send America's sodomites back to England ...
... crime and emotional repression dominate . " Dear Sarah " ponders an admirer's scorn " though I know not my crime . " When Eliza Capland's crime of borrowing Eliza Burr's handkerchief was atoned for by a note and white violet , Halleck ...
... crime " and " straight . " Although the prosecutor for Julia's alleged murder says that " the growth of [ Joseph's ] free - love sentiments " leads to " crime , " Julia remains the novel's criminal figure . Like Sarah Eckford , Julia is ...