Richard Henry Stoddard

author

Richard Henry Stoddard

1825–1903

A self-taught 19th-century American poet and critic, he built a literary life in New York while working day jobs and went on to become a familiar voice in the city’s cultural world. His poems are remembered for their romantic tone and for the way they connect everyday struggle with literary ambition.

1 Audiobook

Abraham Lincoln: An Horatian Ode

Abraham Lincoln: An Horatian Ode

by Richard Henry Stoddard

About the author

Born in 1825 in Hingham, Massachusetts, Richard Henry Stoddard grew up in difficult circumstances and had little formal schooling. He educated himself while working as an iron molder, then gradually made his way into New York’s literary circles.

His first major book, Poems, appeared in 1852. With support from Nathaniel Hawthorne, he later held a customs post in New York, and he also worked in other public positions before becoming a literary editor and critic for New York newspapers.

Stoddard was known in his own time as both a poet and a man of letters, closely connected to the city’s literary scene. He died in 1903, leaving behind poetry, criticism, and a career that reflects how determination and self-education could open a path into American literary life.