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AreytosAntebellum Period | Poetry | John Russell | 1846 Published
in 1846 by John Russell in Charleston, SC, Areytos
was also titled Songs of the South, because
all the poems dealt with subject matter related to the southern United States. Many had been published previously in various
periodicals.[1]
Simms issued this collection on the heels of his Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies. A Collection of Sonnets.[2] Thinking of himself primarily as a poet and
wanting to secure his place as one of America’s best, he followed the
publications of Grouped Thoughts
(1845) and Areytos (1846) with five
other volumes of poetry, all published ... |
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Atalantis; A Story of the Sea.Antebellum Period | Poetry | Carey and Hart | 1849
Though the first edition of Atalantis.
A Story of the Sea (1832) was well received by reviewers both North
and South, it had only one printing. The
limited print run of just 500 copies meant that relatively few readers could
enjoy the many “uncommonly strong and vigorous passages” that comprised William
Gilmore Simms’s fanciful tale.[1] Simms was early convinced that a larger
readership existed and that Atalantis offered
him an opportunity to increase his reputation in both the Northern states and
Europe. In 1837 he wrote to James
Lawson, one of his best friends ... |
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Atalantis. A Story of the Sea: In Three Parts.Antebellum Period | Poetry | J. & J. Harper | 1832
William
Gilmore Simms published Atalantis. A Story of the Sea: In Three Parts in the
fall of 1832. While Simms’s name does
not appear anywhere on or in the text, it is unlikely that he sought any type
of anonymity in its publication. Within
weeks of its appearing in print a reviewer in the Charleston Courier announced, “It is attributed to the pen of our
fellow-townsman, William Gilmore Simms, Esq.…”[1] Even without such prompting anyone familiar
with Simms’s work would have quickly recognized his authorship, because the
opening sonnet was one that he had previously ... |
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Beauchampe; or, The Kentucky TragedyAntebellum Period | Novel (Romance) | Redfield | 1856 Early in the
morning of 7 November 1825, in the town of Frankfort, KY, a young lawyer named
Jereboam O. Beauchamp crept to the house of the state attorney general, Solomon
P. Sharp, and stabbed him to death. The
murder was orchestrated to avenge the honor of Anna Cook[1],
Beauchamp’s wife, who as a single woman had been seduced, impregnated, and
abandoned by Sharp[2]. The event was a national sensation
immediately following its discovery and Beauchamp’s capture days later. Following Cook and Beauchamp’s failed joint
suicide attempt and the latter’s subsequent execution, ... |
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Border Beagles: A Tale of MississippiAntebellum Period | Novel (Romance) | Carey and Hart | 1840 In The Major Fiction of William Gilmore Simms,
Mary Ann Wimsatt argues that Border Beagles, the sequel to the
scandalous Richard Hurdis, shows Simms as continuing to explore the
contentious relationship between the older, civilized tidewater south and the
wild trans-mountain frontier.[1]
While thus continuing a theme begun with Guy Rivers and Richard
Hurdis, Border Beagles saw Simms decidedly scaling back
the violence found in those two books, especially the latter. Here, the
author’s presentation of the chaos and dangers of the frontier is tempered by
humor, with ... |
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Border Beagles: A Tale of MississippiAntebellum Period | Novel (Romance) | Redfield | 1855 In The Major Fiction of William Gilmore Simms,
Mary Ann Wimsatt argues that Border Beagles, the sequel to the
scandalous Richard Hurdis, shows Simms as continuing to explore the
contentious relationship between the older, civilized tidewater south and the
wild trans-mountain frontier.[1]
While thus continuing a theme begun with Guy Rivers and Richard
Hurdis, Border Beagles saw Simms decidedly scaling back
the violence found in those two books, especially the latter. Here, the
author’s presentation of the chaos and dangers of the frontier is tempered by
humor, with ... |
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Carl Werner, An Imaginative Story; with Other Tales of ImaginationAntebellum Period | Short Stories | George Adlard | 1838 Carl Werner was published in December 1838 by George Adlard of New
York.[1] In the author’s advertisement, Simms classified
the collected stories as “moral imaginative” tales, a form of allegory
illuminating the “strifes between the rival moral principles of good and evil.”
Such stories, according to John C. Guilds,
may often exploit supernatural elements, although it is not necessary. Simms attributed the origin of the title
story to “an ancient monkish legend,” as he set “Carl Werner” in the deepest parts
of the German forest where the narrator and his friend ... |
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Castle Dismal; or, The Bachelor's ChristmasAntebellum Period | Novella | Burgess, Stringer & Co. | 1844 A gothic tale of ghosts, infidelity,
murder, and love, Castle Dismal follows
the protagonist Ned Clifton, a “veteran bachelor” who fears the bonds of
marriage, in his holiday visit to the home of married friends. Set during the Christmas season in South Carolina,
Simms’s story illustrates the southern custom of bringing together family
around a table to feast; and while Clifton eventually marries Elizabeth
Singleton—freeing him from the “melancholy dependencies of bachelorism”—Simms
subverts naïve nineteenth-century notions of marriage and domesticity.[1] Marked ... |
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Charlemont; or, The Pride of the VillageAntebellum Period | Novel (Romance) | Redfield | 1856 Early in the
morning of 7 November 1825, in the town of Frankfort, KY, a young lawyer named
Jereboam O. Beauchamp crept to the house of the state attorney general, Solomon
P. Sharp, and stabbed him to death. The
murder was orchestrated to avenge the honor of Anna Cook[1],
Beauchamp’s wife, who as a single woman had been seduced, impregnated, and
abandoned by Sharp[2]. The event was a national sensation
immediately following its discovery and Beauchamp’s capture days later. Following Cook and Beauchamp’s failed joint
suicide attempt and the latter’s subsequent execution, ... |
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Charleston, and Her Satirists; a Scribblement.Antebellum Period | Poetry | 1848 Charleston and Her Satirists consists of a single poem that
William Gilmore Simms drafted in response to a previously published work on
Charleston. Simms is not directly
identified as the author, but is referred to as “A City Bachelor.” The work was printed and published in two
sections by James S. Burges in Charleston, SC during 1848. The first section probably came to press
sometime around November 24, as that is when Simms sent a copy to J.H.
Hammond.[1] In the accompanying letter, Simms asked for
Hammond’s opinion of the work, noting that he himself had some ... |
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Egeria: or, Voices of Thought and Counsel, for The Woods and WaysideAntebellum Period | Miscellany | E.H. Butler & Co. | 1853 Egeria: or, Voices of Thought and Counsel,
for The Woods and Wayside was published by E.H. Butler of Philadelphia in 1853
as a collection of Simms-authored laconics written over the course of many
years.[1] Simms began composing his proverbs as early
as April 1846 when he published selections of them in the Southern Patriot until April 1847 under the title, “Wayside
Laconics.” Soon afterward, Simms collected
these alongside many others and sought Rufus Griswold’s assistance in locating
a book publisher for the manuscript, which proved unsuccessful. Simms then ... |
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Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies: A Collection of SonnetsAntebellum Period | Poetry | 1845 Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies, a collection of sonnets written
by William Gilmore Simms, features poems published in the Southern Literary Messenger throughout 1844 and 1845. This volume was also printed by the Messenger’s printer, W. Macfarlane, in
1845.[1] Simms is not specifically named as the author on the title page; however, he is identified as the author
by the listing of two of his other notable works, Atalantis and Southern
Passages and Pictures. Simms personally selected the works for Grouped Thoughts and Scattered Fancies
“from his private repertoire ... |
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Helen Halsey, or The Swamp State of Conelachita: A Tale of the BordersAntebellum Period | Novella | Burgess, Stringer & Co. | 1845 While one of the lesser-known of
Simms’s border romances, the novella Helen
Halsey is nevertheless a strong work, indicative of the overall project the
author undertook in that series. The
first mention of Helen Halsey in the Letters was in June 1843. By September, Simms told James Lawson that the
work was “nearly ready.” Helen Halsey was “to follow up” Simms’s
ghost story Castle Dismal, a work he
announces in the same letter to be sending to “the Harpers.”[1]
Letters to Lawson from this time period
indicate that the author was interested in shopping ... |
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Lays of the Palmetto: A Tribute to the South Carolina Regiment, in the War with Mexico.Antebellum Period | Poetry | John Russell | 1848 Lays of the Palmetto is a collection of poems that
William Gilmore Simms wrote in honor of the South Carolina regiment that
participated in the war with Mexico. Many
of the poems were originally published in the Charleston Courier in February and March of 1848.[1] Simms
is directly identified as the author of the work on the title page. In a March 23, 1848 letter to his friend and
New York agent, James Lawson, Simms indicated to him that he had “just finished,”
the work and was preparing it to go to press.[2] In late July 1848, Lays of the Palmetto was published by John ... |
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Martin Faber and Other TalesAntebellum Period | Short Stories | Harper & Brothers | 1837 One of the most important works
in Simms’s development as a writer, Martin
Faber has a long and intriguing publication history. Originally published as a novella by J. &
J. Harper of New York in 1833, it was revised and expanded for re-publication,
alongside nine other short stories and a poem, as Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal, and Other Tales, issued by
Harper & Brothers in 1837.[1] Simms biographer John Caldwell Guilds notes
the significance of Martin Faber for the
author, as its writing and Simms’s hopes for it, seemed to seriously alter his
life in his late ... |
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Martin Faber: The Story of a CriminalAntebellum Period | Novella | J. & J. Harper | 1833 One of the most important works
in Simms’s development as a writer, Martin
Faber has a long and intriguing publication history. Originally published as a novella by J. &
J. Harper of New York in 1833, it was revised and expanded for re-publication,
alongside nine other short stories and a poem, as Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal, and Other Tales, issued by
Harper & Brothers in 1837.[1] Simms biographer John Caldwell Guilds notes
the significance of Martin Faber for the
author, as its writing and Simms’s hopes for it, seemed to seriously alter his
life in his late ... |
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Matilda: or, The Spectre of the Castle. An Imaginative Story.Antebellum Period | Novella | F. Gleason | 1846 Carl Werner was published in December 1838 by George Adlard of New
York.[1] In the author’s advertisement, Simms classified
the collected stories as “moral imaginative” tales, a form of allegory
illuminating the “strifes between the rival moral principles of good and evil.”
Such stories, according to John C. Guilds,
may often exploit supernatural elements, although it is not necessary. Simms attributed the origin of the title
story to “an ancient monkish legend,” as he set “Carl Werner” in the deepest parts
of the German forest where the narrator and his friend ... |
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Michael Bonham; or, The Fall of Bexar. A Tale of TexasAntebellum Period | Drama | John R. Thompson | 1852 “I
have also a very Texan drama unpublished in my desk,” Simms wrote to state
legislator, Armistead Burt, in January 1845, “which will make a rumpus, be
sure, if ever it reaches light upon the stage.”[1] That drama, Michael Bonham, was originally published pseudonymously (by “A
Southron”) in the Southern Literary
Messenger from February to June 1852.
Richmond publisher, John R. Thompson, released it as a small pamphlet
after its serial run in July 1852.[2] The drama is based on James Butler Bonham, a
South Carolina native and lieutenant in the Texas Calvary, who died ... |
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Norman Maurice; or, The Man of the People. An American Drama in Five Acts.Antebellum Period | Drama | John R. Thompson | 1851 Throughout his long career,
Simms was regularly concerned with theatre, though drama would always be the
genre with which he had the least commercial and critical success. Norman
Maurice; or,The Man of the the People is perhaps Simms’s best dramatic
work, though its failings are typical of his theatrical frustrations. Norman
Maurice was a lofty experiment, mixing contemporary politics with common
language presented in the format of the Elizabethan tragedy. Written in strict blank verse, Norman Maurice is a play in which the
Constitutional and slavery questions that ... |
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Norman Maurice; or, The Man of the People. An American Drama.Antebellum Period | Drama | Walker and Richards | 1852 Throughout his long career,
Simms was regularly concerned with theatre, though drama would always be the
genre with which he had the least commercial and critical success. Norman
Maurice; or,The Man of the the People is perhaps Simms’s best dramatic
work, though its failings are typical of his theatrical frustrations. Norman
Maurice was a lofty experiment, mixing contemporary politics with common
language presented in the format of the Elizabethan tragedy. Written in strict blank verse, Norman Maurice is a play in which the
Constitutional and slavery questions that ... |
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Sabbath Lyrics: A Christmas Gift of LoveAntebellum Period | Poetry | Press of Walker and James | 1849 Sabbath Lyrics is a collection of poems written
by William Gilmore Simms based on Christian scripture. The poems featured in this collection had
been published previously in Godey’s
throughout 1848 and 1849.[1] These individual poems were published as a
collection in 1849 by the Press of Walker and James in Charleston, SC. Simms intended for this work
to be, “a Christmas giftbook,” that people could give as a Christmas present to
their loved ones. His effort to find a
printer for the work in July of 1849, however, was unsuccessful.[2] In a letter to Nathaniel ... |
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Self-DevelopmentAntebellum Period | Speech | The Thalian Society | 1847
William Gilmore Simms was invited to
give the oration, which would become Self-Development,
by the Literary Societies of Oglethorpe University in Milledgeville, GA in 1847. In consideration of his student audience,
Simms took as his theme the nature and progress of the individual, especially
in relation to his function within God’s plan.
The title quality, according to the author, is about recognizing one’s
God-given potentials and subsequently nurturing and expressing them in
action. Everybody has inborn strengths
and aptitudes; self-development is the art of fully ... |
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Slavery in AmericaAntebellum Period | Reviews/Essays | Thomas W. White | 1838 A month before the Battle of
Fort Sumter, Simms, in a letter to William Porcher Miles, asserted that the
system that was about to plunge the nation into the Civil War was
misunderstood: “In 1835 I took the
ground, in my pamphlet on the Morals of Slavery, that our Institution was not
slavery at all, in the usual acceptation of the term[…]but that the negro in
the South was a minor, under guardianship[…]was distinctly individualized,
& protected in all his rights & privileges, through a representative
master.”[1] The pamphlet to which Simms referred was Slavery ... |
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Southern Passages and PicturesAntebellum Period | Poetry | George Adlard | 1839 Southern Passages and Pictures is a volume of poetry by William
Gilmore Simms, although his name is not mentioned directly on the title page.
The work announced its author simply as the writer of “Atalantis,” “The
Yemassee,” “Guy Rivers,” and “Carl Werner,” perhaps assuming that readers would
know Simms in association with his authorship of these well-read works. The volume was published in December of 1838
by George Adlard, who also published Carl
Werner on Simms’s behalf. Craighead
and Allen were the Printers. Although Southern
Passages and Pictures was published ... |
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The Cassique of Accabee. Tale of Ashley River. With Other Pieces by William Gilmore Simms.Antebellum Period | Poetry | John Russell | 1849 The
Cassique of Accabee, a volume of
poetry by William Gilmore Simms, features one long narrative poem, which shares
its title with the book. The volume also
contains a section of shorter poems.
These poems were all previously published in other forms before they
appeared in this collection,[1] published
by John Russell in 1849 in Charleston, South Carolina. As James Kibler notes, the volume was
completely printed by September 19, 1849, but copies were still being bound
around September 27, 1849.[2] Kibler observes further that subsequent copies
of the work, all of which were ... |