Willis Gaylord Clark was an American poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

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He was born in Otisco, New York

Otisco, New York

Otisco is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 2,561 at the 2000 census. The Town of Otisco is in the southwest part of the county. Otisco is situated at the northern edge of the Appalacian Highlands, where an escarpment declines to the Lake Ontario plain and the...

 and the twin-brother of Lewis Gaylord Clark

Lewis Gaylord Clark

Lewis Gaylord Clark was an American editor and the brother of Willis Gaylord Clark.-Biography:Clark was born in Otisco, New York in 1808. He succeeded Charles Fenno Hoffman as editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine, a role he held for over 25 years...

. Clark wrote for the Knickerbocker Magazine a series of amusing articles called Ollapodiana. Among his best known poems is The Spirit of Life (1833). In the latter part of his life, he was the chief editor of the Philadelphia Gazette. Clark died from tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 in Philadelphia, June 12, 1841. His Literary Remains were published in 1844, and a reissue of his collected poems in 1847.

Sources

• New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors
• The letters of William Cullen Bryant, Volume 2