Christopher Pearse Cranch

Christopher Pearse Cranch

Christopher Pearse Cranch (March 8, 1813 – January 20, 1892) was an American writer and artist.

Biography

Cranch was born in the District of Columbia. He attended Columbian College and Harvard Divinity School. He briefly held a position as a Unitarian minister. Later, he pursued various occupations: a magazine editor, caricaturist, children's fantasy writer (the Huggermugger books), poet (The Bird and the Bell with Other Poems in 1875), translator, and landscape painter. He lived most of his life in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Though not one of its founding members, Cranch became associated with the Transcendental Club;^[1] his connection with the Transcendentalists ultimately diminished his demand as a minister. Cranch's caricatures of Ralph Waldo Emerson were later collected as Illustrations of the New Philosophy: Guide. His poetry was published in The Harbinger^[2] and The Dial^[3] among other publications.

As a painter, Cranch painted landscapes along the lines of Thomas Cole, the Hudson River school, and the Barbizon school in France. In one foray into historical painting, Cranch depicted the burning of P. T. Barnum's American Museum in New York City. Later in life, Cranch painted scenes from Venice and Italy.

Selected works

• Poems (1844)
• The Last of the Huggermuggers, A Giant Story (1855)
• Kobboltozo (1857)
• The Aeneid of Virgil (translation, 1872)
• The Bird and the Bell with Other Poems (1875)
• Ariel and Caliban with Other Poems (1886)

Further reading

• The Life And Letters Of Christopher Pearse Cranch: By His Daughter Lenora Cranch Scott (1917)

References

1. ^ Gura, Philip F. American Transcendentalism: A History. New York: Hill and Wang, 2007: 7–8. ISBN 0-8090-3477-8
2. ^ Felton, R. Todd. A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England. Berkeley, California: Roaring Forties Press, 2006: 126. ISBN 0-9766706-4-X
3. ^ Packer, Barbara L. The Transcendentalists. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2007: 119. ISBN 9780820329581

External links

• Works by Christopher Pearse Cranch at Project Gutenberg
• Listing at American Transcendentalism Web

Persondata
Name	Cranch, Christopher Pearse
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 8, 1813
Place of birth
Date of death	January 20, 1892
Place of death