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He was a teacher, a journalist, a treasury clerk in Washington, DC (where he met and befriended Walt Whitman), and a bank examiner before returning to his beloved Catskills. In 1871, his first book Wake Robin was published. In 1874 he bought a small farm in Esopus, and devoted himself completely to his writing. Later, he would divide his time between "Slabsides", his summer retreat at West Park, near Esopus, and "Woodchuck Lodge" in Roxbury. |
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His essays ranged from studies of
birds and nature to religion and literature. Burroughs was a staunch
defender of Whitman and Thoreau, then unpopular because of their perceived
literary excesses. But the writing he is best known for are his gentle
observations of nature. Alf Evers in The Catskill: From Wilderness to
Woodstock noted that the first verse of the poem Waiting
expresses this "serene acceptance of life" by Burroughs:Serene I fold my hands and waitNor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,For lo! my own shall come to me. |
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Over the years, Burroughs wrote 23
volumes of essays, 3 of which were published posthumously. In later years
his guests at Woodchuck Lodge included John Muir, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison
and Harvey Firestone. He died on March 29, 1921 on a train returning from California. He was buried on his 84th birthday, by Boyhood Rock on Old Clump Mountain in Roxbury. |
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