Charles Fenno Hoffman (February 7, 1806 – June 7, 1884) was an American author, poet and editor associated with the Knickerbocker Group in New York.

Biography

Hoffman was born in New York City on February 7, 1806. He was the son of New York Attorney General Josiah Ogden Hoffman (1766–1837) and his second wife, Maria (née Fenno) Hoffman (1781–1823). His elder half-brother from his father's first marriage to Mary Colden was Ogden Hoffman, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1837 to 1841. In 1835, Hoffman edited The New-York Book of Poetry which first attributed A Visit From St. Nicholas to Clement Clarke Moore. In 1836, Park Benjamin, Sr. merged his New England Monthly Magazine with the American Monthly and hired Hoffman as editor, though he left to join the New York Mirror a year later.

Hoffman's first book was A Winter in the Far West (1835), recounting his travels as far west as St. Louis, Missouri. Hoffman's version, however, had little in common with the true event.

Hoffman's fame rested chiefly upon his poems, first collected in The Vigil of Faith (1842). Literary critic Rufus Wilmot Griswold that year dedicated twice as much space to Hoffman than any other author in his respected anthology The Poets and Poetry of America. Griswold helped Hoffman publish The Echo, another collection of poetry, in 1844. Hoffman was also popular for his songs, including "Sparkling and Bright" and "Rosalie Clare."

Hoffman remained a successful editor and author throughout the 1840s. He officially began a new role as editor of The Literary World magazine on May 1, 1847. The weekly journal, which also included Evert Augustus Duyckinck and George Long Duyckinck, ceased publication in 1853.

Insanity

Under the strain of work, he went insane in 1849, He spent the last 30 years of his life in the Harrisburg State Hospital, a state asylum in Pennsylvania. It was in Harrisburg that he was diagnosed with chronic mania, or manic-depressive psychosis.

Hoffman died in Harrisburg on June 7, 1884. He was buried at Christ Church Burial Ground following funeral services at the home of his sister-in-law in Philadelphia.

Selected list of works

thumb|Greyslaer, 1840

  • A Winter in the West (1835)
  • The New-York Book of Poetry (1837)
  • Vanderlyn; or, The Fortunes of an Adventurer (unfinished, 1837)
  • Wild Scenes in the Forest and Prairie (1839)
  • Greyslaer: A Romance of the Mohawk (1840)
  • The Vigil of Faith (poetry collection, 1842)
  • The Echo (poetry collection, 1844)
  • Love's Calendar, Lays of the Hudson, and Other Poems (1847)
  • The Pioneers of New-York (1848)

References

;Notes

;Sources

  • Hoffman genealogy, at the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan
  • Finding aid to the Charles Fenno Hoffman letters at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.