William Cliffton Explained

William Cliffton (1771 – December 1799) was a Philadelphian poet and pamphleteer. He is the only identified member of the Anchor Club.^[1] He is considered part of the "transitive state" of American poetry.^[2]

Born the son of a wealthy Quaker, Cliffton suffered form a blood clot at the age of nineteen, and from then until his death, aged twenty-seven, pursued an almost exclusively literary life, though he took an interest in field sports.

Cliffton was a supporter of William Cobbett. He died in December 1799^[3] from consumption.^[4]

Works

• A Poetical Rhapsody of the Times.. (as Dick Retort) (1796) ^[5]
• A Flight of Fancy (1800)

References

• Book: William Cliffton: Philadelphia Poet, 1771-1799: A Critical and Biographical Essay and a Collection of His Writings. L. A. Bressler. 1951. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania.

Notes and References

1. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 1956. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. LXXX. 314.
2. Book: Elements of Rhetoric and Literary Criticism: With Copious Practical Exercises and Examples. For the Use of Common Schools and Academies. Including, Also, a Succinct History of the English Language, and of British and American Literature from the Earliest to the Present Times. 1845. Harper. 278.
3. Book: Rufus Wilmot Griswold. The Poets and Poetry of America: With an Historical Introduction. 1842. Carey and Hart. 35–36.
4. Book: Henry Adams. History of the United States of America (1801-1817). 1: During the First Administration of Thomas Jefferson 1. 22 September 2011. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-108-03302-2. 98.
5. Book: Roger Eliot Stoddard. David Rhodes Whitesell. A Bibliographical Description of Books and Pamphlets of American Verse Printed from 1610 Through 1820. 2012. Penn State Press. 978-0-271-05221-2. 382.