Richard Henry Wilde
Who was Richard Henry Wilde?
Irish-American politician, poet (1789-1847)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Richard Henry Wilde (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Richard Henry Wilde was born on September 24, 1789, in Dublin, Ireland, and moved to the United States with his family as a child. They settled in Augusta, Georgia, where he spent much of his life growing up and working. He largely educated himself through extensive reading, then studied law and was admitted to the Georgia bar, becoming a well-respected lawyer in the area.
Wilde got into politics in Georgia, serving as Attorney General from 1811 to 1813. He was later elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served several non-consecutive terms between 1815 and 1835, representing Georgia as part of the Democratic-Republican and later Jacksonian groups. While not a major figure in Congress, he was known as a skilled speaker with broad interests beyond just law and politics.
Besides his legal and political pursuits, Wilde had a deep passion for literature and poetry. He became famous for his poem beginning 'My life is like the summer rose,' which was widely quoted in American culture at the time. There was a brief dispute over the poem's authorship, which added some fame to his literary standing. Wilde's interests also led him to study Italian Renaissance literature and art with great enthusiasm.
In the late 1830s, Wilde traveled widely in Italy, spending years researching Italian poets and artists. During this time, he did extensive research on Torquato Tasso and claimed to have discovered a previously unknown portrait of Dante, garnering attention from scholars in Europe and America. He also started a major biographical and critical work on Tasso, but it was unfinished when he died.
After returning to the U.S., Wilde moved to New Orleans instead of going back to Georgia. He joined the faculty at the newly founded University of Louisiana, teaching law. He continued his writing and literary interests while fulfilling his academic role. Wilde passed away in New Orleans on September 10, 1847, due to the yellow fever epidemic that struck the city. He was fifty-seven years old.
Before Fame
Wilde was born in Dublin in 1789 and moved to America as a young child when his family emigrated and eventually settled in Augusta, Georgia. His father died shortly after they arrived, leaving the family in tough financial spots. Wilde mostly educated himself by reading a lot while helping support his family, shaping his self-reliant learning habits and lifelong love for literature and classical studies.
He rose to prominence through the law, a common path for ambitious young men in the early 1800s in America. After being admitted to the Georgia bar in his early twenties, Wilde established a legal practice in Augusta and gained the attention of state political leaders. His election to Congress in 1815 showed his status as one of Georgia's leading young professionals, a person who turned personal hardship and self-education into real public influence.
Key Achievements
- Served multiple terms as a United States Representative from Georgia between 1815 and 1835
- Served as Attorney General of Georgia from 1811 to 1813
- Authored the widely circulated lyric poem 'My life is like the summer rose,' one of the most quoted American verses of its era
- Conducted original archival research in Italy on Torquato Tasso and claimed discovery of a previously unknown portrait of Dante
- Joined the founding faculty of the University of Louisiana as a professor of law
Did You Know?
- 01.Wilde's lyric poem beginning 'My life is like the summer rose' was so widely circulated in the early nineteenth century that a legal dispute arose over its authorship, with another writer briefly claiming credit for it.
- 02.During his years in Italy in the late 1830s, Wilde claimed to have identified a previously unknown portrait of Dante Alighieri, a discovery that generated considerable debate among European scholars of the period.
- 03.He conducted extensive archival research on the life of the Italian Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso and began writing a major biographical study of Tasso, though the work was never completed before his death.
- 04.Wilde died during a yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans in 1847, the same epidemic that claimed thousands of lives in the city that year.
- 05.Despite being born in Dublin, Ireland, Wilde built his entire political and legal career in Georgia, where he served both as the state's Attorney General and as a member of the United States House of Representatives.