John Burroughs

Author Code: AJBS

Burroughs left his local schooling when he was 17 and took various teaching positions, continuing at the same time to study at various seminaries. In 1860, he published his first essay in Atlantic Monthly and editor James Russell Lowell thought he showed great promise as a writer. He then worked for the Treasury department as a clerk and eventually became a federal bank examiner. He work ed for the Treasury until the 1880's, when he dedicated his time to writing and the nature he loved so much. In 1867, he published his first book, Notes on Walt Whitman as Poet and Person, which was well-received. In 1871, he published his first collection of essays on nature, Wake-Robin, which became very popular. In 1874, he moved to West Park, New York and bought a pig farm where he raised his own crops and continued to write on nature and related subjects. Burroughs befriended many notables during his long career including Henry Ford, John Muir, Walt Whitman and Thomas Edison and one of his closest friends was Theodore Roosevelt. He was a prolific writer and produced over 30 books and hundreds of essays and poems. He died on a train while returning home from California. His other works include Birds and Poets (1877), Locusts and Wild Honey (1879), Fresh Fields (1884), Riverby (1894), The Light of Day (1900), John James Audubon (1902), Far and Near (1904), Ways of Nature (1905), Afoot and Afloat (1907), Time and Change (1912), Under the Apple-Trees (1916), Under the Maples (1921) and The Last Harvest (1922 posthumous).