author
active 1830-1872 Thomas Clarke
A little-known 19th-century poet linked to Chicago, he wrote lively, topical verse about the Civil War era and one of the city’s defining disasters. His surviving books suggest a writer drawn to public events, satire, and patriotic feeling.
1 Audiobook
Sir Copp: A poem for the times, in six cantos
by active 1830-1872 Thomas Clarke
About the author
Thomas Clarke is an obscure American poet whose published work places him active from the 1830s to 1872. Library and catalog records credit him with works including Sir Copp: A Poem for the Times, in Six Cantos (1865), The Battle, and Other Poems, Patriotic and Humorous (1871), and The Burning of Chicago: A Poem (1872).
Those titles give the clearest picture of his writing life. Clarke appears to have worked in Chicago, where The Battle and The Burning of Chicago were published by Clarke & Company or Clarke & Co. His poetry seems closely tied to current events, mixing satire, patriotism, and civic response rather than private or purely lyrical themes.
Very little biographical detail about his personal life could be confirmed from reliable online sources consulted here. Even so, the surviving record shows a writer who used verse to engage directly with the major public dramas of his day.