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James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, satirist, diplomat, and abolitionist. In 1841, he published A Year’s Life and joined a friend, Robert Carter, in founding a literary journal, The Pioneer. In 1843 he published his first collection of poems. Early in 1846 he was a correspondent of the London Daily News, and in 1848 he formed a connection with the National Anti-Slavery Standard of New York, agreeing to contribute weekly either a poem or a prose article. This was a period of great mental activity, and four books appeared in 1848 - a second series of Poems, A Fable for Critics, in which he characterizes in witty verse and with good-natured satire American contemporary writers, The Vision of Sir Launfal, a romantic story suggested by the Arthurian legends - one of his most popular poems, and finally The Biglow Papers. In 1857, The Atlantic Monthly was established, and Lowell was its first editor. Although the great bulk of his writing was now in prose, he made after this date some of his most notable ventures in poetry.