About the Author
James Thomson (1834–1882) was a poet, best remembered for his work “The City of Dreadful Night.” A pessimist, he spent much of his life lonely, poor, and without much sleep. In addition to poetry, he also wrote prose, including literary criticism. His essay Walt Whitman, the Man and the Poet, was part of a series of essays he wrote for the National Reformer and Cope’s Tobacco Plant.
