William Haines Lytle

"William Haines Lytle was born in Cincinnati, November 2, 1826. He served in the Mexican war as captain; became a member of the Ohio legislature; ran for lieutenaut-governor in 1857; was major-general of the Ohio militia; commanded the Fourth Ohio Regiment in General O.M. Mitchel's brigade in the civil war; was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga [Georgia], September 20, 1863."

His poem, Antony and Cleopatra, was oft-quoted in mid-to-late-nineteenth-century America.  Continuing with W. H. Venable's observations about Lytle and his work: 

"Illustrious in arms, this well-loved Ohio hero is also admired in the field of letters. His best poem, 'Anthony and Cleopatra,' seems to be booked for immortality."

"Periodically, it goes the rounds of the newspaper press as an 'old favorite,' having about it that indescribable quality of sustained excellence which marks it as permanently acceptable to the muse. Both the imagination and the ear of the critic must grant that there is melody, verve, dramatic vividness, and bold imagery in every stanza of the six which make up this fine lyric..."

Credits

Photo, Library of Congress.

Information and quotes, W. H. Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley: Historical and Biographical Sketches, (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1891) - page 284.