1802–1864
portrait

Born: Oc­to­ber 10, 1802, Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: Ju­ly 6, 1864, New York Ci­ty.

Buried: Da­ven­port Ce­me­te­ry, Da­ven­port, New York.

portrait

Biography

George was the hus­band of Ma­ry Worth­ing­ton Hop­kins, and fa­ther of Bri­ga­dier Ge­ne­ral Will­iam Hop­kins Mor­ris.

In ear­ly life, George moved to New York, where in 1822 he be­came ed­it­or of the New York Mir­ror ma­ga­zine. In 1831, he and Na­than­iel Willis co-founded the New York Ev­en­ing Mir­ror.

He is best re­mem­bered as a po­et, Wood­man, Spare That Tree be­ing one of his most fa­mous po­ems.

Works

Poem

We Were Boys Together

We were boys together,
And never can forget
The school house near the heather,
In childhood where we met:
Nor the green home, to memory dear,
Its sorrows and its joys,
Which called the transient smile or tear
When you and I were boys.

We were youths together,
And castles built in air;
Your heart was like a feather,
While mine was dashed with care.
To you came wealth with manhood’s prime,
To me it brought alloys
Ne’er imagined in the primrose time
When you and I were boys.

We’re old men together;
The friends we loved of yore,
With leaves of autumn weather,
Are gone for evermore.
How blessed to age the impulse given—
The hope time ne’er destroys—
Which led our thoughts from earth to heaven,
When you and I were boys.

George Pope Morris
The Deserted Bride, and Other Poems, 1838

Sources

Lyrics