known as the Hartford Wits, determined to take the kingdom of poetry by
violence. The chief of these were three Yale graduates, Timothy Dwight,
Joel Barlow, and John Trumbull.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT (1752-1817).--Before he became president of Yale, Dwight
determined to immortalize himself by an epic poem. He accordingly wrote the
_Conquest of Canaan_ in 9671 lines, beginning:--

"The Chief, whose arms to Israel's chosen band
Gave the fair empire of the promis'd land,
Ordain'd by Heaven to hold the sacred sway,
Demands my voice, and animates the lay."

[Illustration: TIMOTHY DWIGHT]

This poem is written in the rocking horse couplets of Pope, and it is
well-nigh unreadable to-day. It is doubtful if twenty-five people in our
times have ever read it through. Even where the author essays fine writing,
as in the lines:--

"On spicy shores, where beauteous morning reigns,
Or Evening lingers o'er her favorite plains,"

there is nothing to awaken a single definite image, nothing but glittering
generalities. Dwight's best known poetry is found in his song, _Columbia_,
composed while he was a chaplain in the Revolutionary War:--

"Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies."