![]() ![]() His verse soon attracted the attention of a Boston publisher and his first volume of poetry was extremely successful. John soon grew tired of legal work and pursued a writing career, getting poems such as The Rhyme of the Rail published in The Knickerbocker. He studied law at Middlebury and, having been accepted at the Vermont bar in 1843, he went into business with his older brother Charles who was described as “dutiful and pious”. ![]() It was a strictly Methodist upbringing and his first schooling was at a Wesleyan establishment. His ancestor took the name John Saxe, an Americanisation of his German name Johannes Sachse. He was born in the Vermont town of Highgate on the 2 nd June 1816 and grew up in the settlement called Saxe’s Mills which dated back to his German immigrant grandfather’s arrival. It was sometimes described as “rollicking” while at other times he displayed a gentler, more introspective style. His poetry gained him a lot of favour though. After his second defeat he felt it advisable to move to Albany, New York. Most people in Vermont were very much Republican in their views while Saxe was a Democrat. ![]() It was thought that his stance on slavery – he advocated a controversial policy of non-interference – almost certainly led to his downfall on both occasions. He tried twice to be elected to the position of Governor of his home state of Vermont, but failed twice. ![]() John Godfrey Saxe was a mostly satirical 19 th century American poet and would-be politician. ![]()
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