Art & Literature
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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1807 - 1882
Though born in Portland Maine, Maine was a district of Massachusetts until it became a state in March 1820.
World renowned, one of his most famous works is Paul Revere's Ride, beginning with "Listen my children and you shall hear
about the midnight ride of Paul Revere"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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1803 - 1882
Born in Boston
Edgar Allen Poe
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Theodor Seuss Geisel
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1809 - 1849
More associated with Baltimore, Poe was born in Boston MA.
His most famous work is The Raven
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Theodor Seuss Geisel
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1904 - 1991
Born in Springfield MA
He wrote over 60 books under his pen name Dr Suess, including classics like Cat In the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,
Green Eggs and Ham, and Thorax
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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July 4th 1804 - 1864
Born in Salem MA
Henry David Thoreau
Theodor Seuss Geisel
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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1817 - 1862
Born in Concord MA
Thoreau was an American philosopher, writer, naturalist, and political activist. A key figure in New England transcendentalism, he's best known for Walden, a reflection on simple living in nature, and "Civil Disobedience", which advocates citizen disobedience against unjust governments. Thoreau was a passionate abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Emily Dickinson
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
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1830 - 1886
Born in Amherst MA
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
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1911 - 1979
Born in Worcester
Stanley Kunitz
Elizabeth Bishop
Stanley Kunitz
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1905 - 2006
Born in Worcester
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Farmer's Almanac
Farmer's Almanac
Farmer's Almanac
West Boylston
West Boylston's Beaman Library is reported to be only one of three locations to have every edition of the Farmer's Almanac
Click here for its history
Mario DeMarco
Farmer's Almanac
Farmer's Almanac
1922 - 2008
Finishing his career in West Boylston, DeMarco worked as cartoonist, illustrator and author. He specialized in sports, animal, and Western comics and cartoons.
DeMarco's works have appeared in Life magazine and has sketches part of both the Baseball and Basketball halls of fame.
Jill Lepore
Farmer's Almanac
Jill Lepore
b. 1966
Born in West Boylston, Lepore
won the 2026 Pulitzer in History.
Watch her recent
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
1879
The Pearl, a pornographic monthly magazine, was a London based publication that ran for eighteen issues from
July 1879 to December 1880, is said to first publish the limerick.
1902
Another early published version appeared in 1902 in the Princeton Tiger written by Prof. Dayton Voorhees:
For more information
An American Tragedy
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
Sutton
Lake Singletary in Sutton is part of a strange story as art imitates life, or life imitates art.
Norman Rockwell
There Once Was a Man from Nantucket
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
1894 - 1978
Though Norman Rockwell was born in New York, he is most associated with his home in Stockbridge MA, in which he moved there at age 53. Despite criticisms that he was just an illustrator, his legacy has outlasted his critics and peers. His works are best known and inseparable from the Saturday Evening Post.
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
1806 - 1889
Born in Sterling, she is believed to have written the nursery rhyme
'Mary Had a Little Lamb'
Sterling honors her with a statue of the lamb.
Ernest Thayer
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
Lizzie Borden & Poem
1863 - 1940
Born in Lawrence but raised in Worcester, Thayer wrote what would be come one of the most recognized sports stories
in American history
Lizzie Borden & Poem
Mary Elizabeth Sawyer
Lizzie Borden & Poem
1860 - 1927
Born in Fall River, the Borden murder case was as big as any case today, and has spawned numerous books and movies about it, including the famous poem:
"Lizzie Borden took an axe
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.
Andrew Borden now is dead,
Lizzie hit him on the head.
Up in heaven he will sing,
on the gallows she will swing ."