Fitz-Greene Halleck: The Most Famous Gay Poet You’ve Never Heard Of

Born in 1790, Fitz-Greene Halleck went on to become one of the most celebrated poets of the mid-19th century, a member of New York’s Knickerbocker set who rubbed shoulders with Charles Dickens and John Jacob Astor, and was eventually memorialized with a statue on Poet’s Walk in Central Park. This “American Byron” was also a life-long bachelor whose homoerotic poems live in plain sight and whose queer relationships were subject to contemporary documentation and satire. Prof Stein’s lecture will be an introduction to his life and legacy.

Sponsored by The Davida T. Deutsch Program in Women’s History and the Charlotte Cushman Society

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