Talk:John Greenleaf Whittier

The brewing of soma
His hymn Dear Lord and Father of mankind is actually the last few verses of a much longer poem called The brewing of soma, the full text of which is available at. It marks his observations regarding the preparation and use of the Vedic sacrificial drink in Hinduism. Whittier borrowed his copy of the Bhagavad Gita from Emerson. DFH 16:15, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Wikiquote
What happened to the Wikiquote link that used to be on the page? I think it should be put back. kc12286 21:50, 1 November 2006 (UTC)kc12286

Problematic sentence
"Whittier was an activist all his life, although there is no record of him ever speaking in meeting, and, unlike some others who were Orthodox, he found time to engage in politics and championed abolitionism."

First I am going to wipe this absurd implication "and, unlike some others who were Orthodox, he found time to engage in politics and championed abolitionism." I haven't the foggiest who these 'others' are, but the writer obviously thought very highly of them.

Also, the first point of the sentence (the first sentence even) needs a citation. Anyone?

MangyMaestro 05:03, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

After taking a closer look, I decided to axe the whole thing. Knowing the second clause about never speaking in public, I don't see any justification to include the first clause unless there is evidence of his participation in active groups. In that case, it still needs a citation. The final point about his hectic life is a worthless sentence. No real information is conveyed. As a topic sentence it is fine, but it hasn't a single struts to brace it. Snicker-snack!

I don't know what to do with the Quaker beliefs section. It sticks out like a spaghetti stain on a white blouse. Chop, chop? New section?

MangyMaestro 05:16, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 07:05, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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Color blind
The article says: "As a boy, it was discovered that Whittier was color-blind when he was unable to see a difference between ripe and unripe strawberries." Is this so significant that it needs to be mentioned? Nowhere else in the article is this issue of relevance. Attic Salt (talk) 20:09, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The fact that he was once a shoemaker is not relevant to anywhere else in the article either. It also notes that he was an editor in Pennsylvania but nowhere else in the article is this relevant. Yet, he was color-blind for his entire life and, one could argue, that's relevant to the entire article. In some instances, color-blindness is considered a disability and it's important to represent disabilities here. I'm not sure I see your point (no pun intended). --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:41, 21 April 2021 (UTC)

Family
His younger brother Mathew Franklin Whittier was a writer, too. Stephen Sakellarios, M.S., claims in his essay The True Authorship of “The Rag-Picker; Or, Bound and Free” (Academia Letters, 2021) that he was the actual author of several works by Francis Alexander Durivage and George Pickering Burnham. Hodsha (talk) 21:11, 25 May 2023 (UTC)
 * If you think this information is important enough and you have a reliable third-party source, you can add it to the article in an appropriate space. Otherwise, I'm not sure why this comment was left here. Are you trying to start a debate? That's not the purpose of this page. --Midnightdreary (talk) 01:06, 27 May 2023 (UTC)