Frederick Goddard Tuckerman - Greenfield, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 35.651 W 072° 35.820
18T E 697153 N 4718550
The grave of 19th century American romantic poet Frederick Goddard Tuckerman is located in Federal Street Cemetery in Greenfield, MA.
Waymark Code: WMZ1WP
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/28/2018
Views: 3
The grave of poet Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, who is best known for his five series of sonnets, is marked by a gray stone with a rounded top which is inscribed:
Sacred to
the memory of
F.G. TUCKERMAN
youngest son
of the late
EDWARD TUCKERMAN
OF BOSTON:
Born Feb. 4th 1821
Died in Greenfield.
May 9th 1873
Oh for the face and footstep! woods and shores!
That looked upon us in life's happiest flush.
The last two lines of the epitaph is from the Frederick Goddard Tuckerman's sonnet number XXXII from his second series of sonnets.
Frederick Goddard Tuckerman was born in Boston, MA. He attended Boston Latin School, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School where he graduated in 1842 and was admitted to the bar. In 1847 he moved to Greenfield, MA, abandoned the practice of law and devoted his time to writing poems and studying the natural world.
During his lifetime Tuckerman's wrote five series of sonnets that were collected into a single volume,Poems published in 1860. Tuckerman was a contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and wrote a hymn for the dedication of the Green River Cemetery. The rest of Tuckerman's poems were published after his death. Many of his poems were discovered and published in 1931. His longest and arguably his best poem "The Cricket” was not published until 1950.
In 1873 Frederick Goddard Tuckerman died of heart disease at the age of fifty-two. A sandstone tower in Greenfield, MA, known as the Poet's Seat, was constructed in his honor in 1912 to replace a wooden tower erected in 1873. The tower in on the official seal of Greenfield, MA.