Hovey, Richard

Richard Hovey, (born May 4, 1864, Normal, Ill., U.S.—died Feb. 24, 1900, New York City), U.S. poet, translator, and dramatist.

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1885, Hovey studied art and theology and in 1887 met Bliss Carman, the poet, with whom he later collaborated. Hovey lectured on aesthetics at the Farmington School of Philosophy and, for the last two years of his life, at Columbia University, where he held a post as professor of English at Barnard College. A self-conscious individual, he tried, in clothing and mannerisms, to be an American Oscar Wilde. His works consistently reflect his faith in an optimistic and vital United States. His books include Launcelot and Guenevere: A Poem in Dramas (1891); with Bliss Carman, Songs from Vagabondia (1894), More Songs from Vagabondia (1890), and Last Songs from Vagabondia (1901, posthumous); and such other works as Seaward (1893), an elegy on the poet Thomas William Parsons; Along the Trail (1898); and Taliesin, a Masque (1900). Also published posthumously was To the End of the Trail (1908). He translated eight of Maeterlinck’s plays into English.