Bret Harte Biography | Poet

Francis Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York, on August 25, 1839. He spent his early years in a variety of Eastern towns. In the late part of 1853, his mother went to California as a member of a group of relatives, and two months later, when he was fifteen, he and his sister followed. From early childhood, he wished to be a poet. During the next few years, he taught school, set type, officiated in a private political society, mined, and edited a country journal. He became editor of the Overland Monthly in San Francisco in 1868.

Harte's fame came suddenly. Late in the 60s, he had written a satirical rhyming poem about two Western gamblers who attempted to outwit an honest Chinese man who did not know how to play cards. However, the "honest" man was not as inexperienced as he seemed. In the midst of his writing serious poetry, Harte put this poem aside as too crude and trifling for publication. Sometime later, as a popular monthly literary and cultural magazine, The Overland Monthly, was going to press, it was discovered that the publication was one page short. The writer, being without a manuscript, had the poem included. Instead of the rhyme passing unnoticed, it was quoted far and wide; it swept West and even reached as far as England. It was eventually copied by two leading magazines and set to music by two composers. When The Luck of Roaring Camp followed, Harte became a national and international figure. England acclaimed him, and The Atlantic Monthly paid him $10,000 to write for a year in his Pike County vein.

East and West Poems appeared in 1871. In 1872, Harte published an enlarged poetical work, which included many earlier pieces. His scores of short stories represent Harte at his best; "M'liss," "Tennessee's Partner," and "The Outcast of Poker Flat"—these are the work of a lesser Charles Dickens. His novels are of minor importance; they are hastily constructed and theatrically developed; his characters are little more than poorly wired marionettes that betray every movement made by their manipulator.

In 1872, Harte, encouraged by his success, returned to his native East; in 1878, he went to Germany as consul. Two years later, he was transferred to Scotland and, after five years there, went to London, where he remained for the rest of his life. Harte's later period remains mysteriously shrouded. He never returned to America, not even for a visit; he ceased to correspond with his family; he separated himself from all the most intimate associations of his early life. He died suddenly at Camberley, England, May 6, 1902.