Wampanoag Traveler: Being, in Letters, the Life and Times of Loranzo Newcomb, American and Natural Historian: A Poem - Paperback
by Brendan Galvin (Author)
Brendan Galvin's book-length poem, Wampanoag Traveler, is told from the point of view of one Loranzo Newcomb, a fictional eighteenth-century natural historian, gardener, lone wanderer, fabulist, and failed lover. A sort of Johnny Appleseed in reverse, Newcomb traverses the American colonies, gathering seeds, botanical specimens, and fauna for the gardens and collections of wealthy patrons in England, and a host of observations for himself.
Wampanoag Traveler makes vivid a lost world in which science and superstition, fact and tall tale are interlocked. The poem is arranged in fourteen sections that deal variously with such subjects as gardening, the mystical delirium that follows a poisonous snakebite, failed love, hummingbirds and skunks, and the young Newcomb's apprenticeship to a "birdmaster" who bears a close resemblance to Audubon. The section, "Some Entertainments Sent with a Gift Snuffbox Carved from an Alligator's Tooth," which was awarded a Sotheby's Prize by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney through the Arvon International Poetry Competition in 1987, is a poetic tall tale in which Newcomb describes raising a baby alligator to dragon-sized proportions. My first alligator I dragged out ofGalvin's book-length poem, 'Wampanoag Traveler, ' is told from the point of view of one Loranzo Newcomb, a fictional eighteenth - century natural historian, gardener, lone wanderer, fabulist, and failed lover.
Brendan Galvin is the author of sixteen poetry books, including eight published by LSU Press, of which Habitat (2005) was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received many other honors, including the O. B. Hardison Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library. He lives in Truro, Massachusetts.
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