Citizen Poets In Boston After The American Revolution

Most of us know the stories about Boston during the American Revolution — the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, battles at Lexington and Concord. Boston was really center stage during the years leading up to the Revolutionary War.

But what happened in Boston after that tumultuous decade, when America was trying to figure out its values and view of democracy as a new nation?

For a window into this time period, Paul Lewis says we should look to poetry written by everyday Bostonians. He's the editor of the new book  "The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789 to 1820."

Want to try your hand at solving a rebus? The "Citizen Poets of Boston" contains a few rebuses that remain unsolved over 200 years later. Try the one below (originally published in Gentlemen and Ladies' Town and Country Magazine, November 1789).
What increases the sea, and a part of a man,
Is the name of a place--which tell if you can.
Tweet us your answer @RadioBoston.

Paul Lewis, professor of English at Boston College.

Boston Literary District: Paul Lewis, Editor Of “The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789–1820”

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