James Matthews Legaré

James Matthews Legaré (November 26, 1823 in Charleston, South Carolina – March 30, 1859 in Aiken, South Carolina) was an American poet and inventor.

He was a relative of Hugh S. Legaré. He was by profession an inventor, artist, and author, but whose ill health prevented the commercialization of his devices. He contributed poetry to magazines, and published a single volume, Orta-Undis and other poems in 1848.

Biography Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Legaré was the son of John D. Legaré, the founding editor of the farm journal Southern Agriculturalist, as well as the librarian of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina from 1828 to 1830, and Mary Doughty Mathewes. He attended the College of Charleston in 1841 before transferring the following year at St. Mary’s college in Baltimore, Maryland, to be closer to his cousin, Hugh S. Legaré who was then serving as the United States Attorney General.

St. Mary's College While at St. Mary’s, he studied ancient and modern languages as well as mathematics and chemistry. Although he did not graduate, he received an honorary certificate and won premiums in the individual subjects of rhetoric, natural history, astronomy, Spanish, German, and painting in oil. Following his cousin’s death in 1843, he returned to Charleston.

Charleston, South Carolina (Before Pulmonary Tuberculosis) Upon his return to Charleston, he began to work as a law clerk in the offices of James L. Petrigru, although he did not continue in the field namely due to disinclination and poor health. The rough translation of Orta-Undis is probably a reference to the famous painting The Birth of Venus by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Legaré sought recognition for his poetry and fiction, publishing Orta-Undis and other Poems in 1848. The rough translation "sprung from waves" is probably a reference to the painting "The Birth of Venus". It was published by William Davis Ticknor in Boston. It attracted good reviews, including the endorsement of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also published seventeen stories in popular periodicals, including The Knickerbocker, Graham’s Magazine, and Putnam’s Magazine. Legaré’s poetry is studied today mostly in South Carolina, especially in Aiken, where he spent the last years of his life.

Orta-Undis and Other Poems Orta-Undis and Other Poems was Legaré’s only published volume of poetry. It establishes him as a southern poet in the Romantic tradition. His work was inspired by contemporary poets of his time like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edgar Allan Poe. Critics of his poems during his lifetime gave high remarks for his works describing the southern landscape, especially those with the description of the native flora: "Haw-Blossoms" and "To Jasmines in December." Praise was also given to his poem "Ornithologoi" (Bird Voices), which celebrates birdsong and laments the practice of shooting birds for sport.