His first magazine article about the birds
was written in the summer or fall of 1863, and appeared in the
"Atlantic" in the spring of 1885. He learned from a friend to
whom Mr. Sanborn had written that the article had pleased Emerson.
It was in 1864, while in the Currency Bureau in Washington, that he
wrote the essays which make up his first nature book, "Wake-Robin."
His first book, however, was not a nature book, but was "Walt
Whitman as Poet and Person." It was published in 1867, preceding
"Wake-Robin" by four years. It has long been out of print, and
is less known than his extended, riper work, "Whitman, A. Study,"
written in 1896.
A record of the early writings of Mr. Burroughs would not be
complete without considering also his ventures into the field
of poetry. In the summer of 1860 he wrote and printed his first
verses (with the exception of some still earlier ones written in
1856 to the sweetheart who became his wife), which were addressed
to his friend and comrade E. M. Allen, subsequently the husband of
Elizabeth Akers, the author of "Backward, turn backward, O Time, in
your flight." The lines to E. M. A. were printed in the "Saturday
Press." Because they are the first of our author's verses to appear
in print, I quote them here:--
TO E.
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