Maine
Click an author to read a biographical essay prepared by a local student.
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By Amanda L. Christy
The word 'Maine' for most people conjures up images of rocky shores, pine trees, and lobster dinners. Those who have visited know that crossing the Piscataqua River and entering New England's largest state means entering another world. A big blue sign on the border proclaims "Welcome to Maine – the Way Life Should Be." And it is. The physical beauty of Maine's geography alone approaches the mythical: mountainous lake regions, the Great North Woods, rugged coastline, and vast potato fields. Harsh winters melt into magical summers. Life moves a little more slowly, and the savoring of it is a little more important. Sitting in my lush backyard on a perfect summer day, it is easy to understand why so many writers have felt drawn to this place.
Maine is steeped in the New England literary tradition that continues to influence the active artistic community that thrives here today. This overview is intended to provide a brief introduction to this rich heritage. It includes both native writers and those from away who have touched or been touched by the state of Maine and thus influenced American literature. Although some of the writers mentioned here might also be claimed by other states, they have been included here because they contributed to Maine's literary landscape in some important way. Likewise, there are certainly many writers -- native or not -- who could have been included here, but were not.
Maine's literary history began with American Indian myths from tribes such as the Passamaquoddy, the Penobscot, and the Wabanaki, and the accounts of European explorers, like Giovanni da Verrazzano and Captain John Smith, who were captivated by the place and envisioned many possibilities for the development of its natural resources. When Maine entered the Union in 1820, farming, the lumber industry, railroads, and shipbuilding caused civilization to flourish. The civilizing of this northeastern bit of wilderness brought the state's first daily newspaper, founded by Seba Smith in 1828. In it, Smith wrote political satire, becoming the nation's first political columnist during the Jackson administration. Pre-Civil War Maine was a place where the public avidly read everything from newspapers to Shakespeare.
The land and sea from which Mainers earned their living also inspired the first Maine writers to gain national recognition. Among the greatest was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). The poet was born in Portland and attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine at the age of fifteen, alongside fellow literary giant-to-be Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). Enchanted by the sea, and known for his rich use of imagery, the Romantic Longfellow became America's first professional poet. Maine poets Robert P. Tristram Coffin (1892-1955), William Carpenter, and nature poet Abbie Huston Evans (1881-1853) followed in his poetic footsteps. Hawthorne himself, author of The Scarlet Letter and kingpin of Boston's literary scene during the 19th century, lived in Raymond, Maine with an uncle during his adolescence. He began writing following his graduation from Bowdoin and remained a faithful visitor to the state. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), a contemporary of both Longfellow and Hawthorne, focused on Maine's natural wonders as an outsider in his travel narrative The Maine Woods.
The beauty and character of early Maine is reflected in the writings of Sarah Orne Jewett
(1849 – 1909), a South Berwick native. Known for her regionalism and simplicity of style that best captures the essence of Maine, Jewett was an "optimistic realist." She consistently set her work in rural Maine and captured local character -- for better or worse. Jewett firmly established a female literary tradition in Maine and was the first woman to receive a degree from Bowdoin College. Her style inspired a new generation of women writers, including Mary Ellen Chase (1887-1973), whom she met in Blue Hill, and Lura Beam (1887-1978).
Following the Civil War, which Lincoln famously attributed to Maine resident Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) and her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Maine's economy suffered. Industrial progress was sweeping the nation and Maine was one step behind. During this time, the paper and textile industries sprung up and with them came French immigrants from Canada who changed the cultural face of Maine's mill cities. Writers descended from the Franco-American tradition in Maine include novelist William R. Hopkins, poets A. Poulin, Jr., Philip Booth, Louis O. Coxe, David Walker, Amy Clampitt and short-story writer Fred Bonnie.
Even when the economy was not at its best, Maine writers flourished. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950), a liberal, feminist, poet, like Jewett, drew her inspiration from the land of her birth. Ironically, she was not selected to write the class poem upon her graduation from Camden High School, but went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for her work and became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The late 19th and early 20th century also gave us Kennebunk native Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957) who won the Pulitzer Prize for his historical fiction and Edward Arlington Robinson (1869-1935), a native poet and novelist encouraged by President Roosevelt while struggling in New York City, who received many literary awards. He is best known for his poem "Richard Corey" which has been immortalized by contemporary songwriters. Carolyn Chute, a Portland native whose style has been compared to that of William Faulkner, exposed rural poverty, the underside of the mythical portrait of Maine, with dignity and humor in her novel The Beans of Egypt, Maine. When times are tough, Mainers keep their sense of humor. Writer John Gould is responsible in part for the oral and written tradition of Maine humor that is carried on today by folks such as Tim Sample.
Although sometimes seen as "backward" and slow to grow, perhaps due to its geographical isolation from the rest of the country, Maine has undergone significant change in the latter part of the twentieth century. Its romantic beauty is disappearing, but its proud, independent people remain. Maine is still "different." Because of its other-worldliness, Maine became a popular destination for wealthy summer visitors and, among them, many writers, beginning in the 1850's. Today, tourism is a major industry in "Vacationland," and ensures a lively influx of artists, writers, and thinkers every summer. Summer people and other "temporary" Maine residents who have contributed to Maine literature include Willa Cather, Sinclair Lewis, Mary McCarthy, Louise Brogan, Jean Stafford and Robert Lowell, Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Rachel Carson. Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987), a French author and the first woman admitted to the Academie Francaise lived out the end of her life in Northeast Harbor. May Sarton (1912-1995), a prolific poet, essayist, and journalist, was born in Belgium, but thrived in Maine. E.B. White, a frequent summer visitor, moved to a saltwater farm in Brooklin, Maine in 1938 and has been adopted as a native son. It was on his farm that he was inspired by a spider in his outhouse to write Charlotte's Web. Although best known as a children's author, he was a columnist for The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine and rewrote William Strunk's "bible" of usage and style The Elements of Style.
Maine, in fact, has inspired many other celebrated children's authors. Caldecott medal winners Magaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon; Barbara Cooney, author and illustrator of the Maine-inspired Miss Rumphius and Island Boy; and Robert McClosky, author of Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Ducklings, and One Morning in Maine, all called Maine home at one time or another. Notable picture book writers and artists Bruce McMillan and Dahlov Ipcar also resided here. Kate Douglas Wiggin, author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm , grew up in Hollis. Young adult novelists Lois Lowry and Cythia Voigt lived and wrote in Maine, while Judy Blume, Paula Fox, and Jean Craighead George, famous authors for young people, have been frequent visitors to the state.
Commenting on literary activity in the state, Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957), the Pulitzer-prize winning writer from Kennebunk, once said "Almost everyone I meet in southern Maine is quick to say that he would write a book himself if he had time." This appears to be true today; Maine's literary history is certainly not a closed book. Contemporary Maine authors of note include Tess Gerritson, Van Reid, Cathie Pellitier, Kate Flora, Elizabeth Strout, and, of course, master of horror and suspense Stephen King, who is now bringing Maine literature to an internet audience.
Amanda Christy is a Maine native currently teaching English in New York
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