Richard Henry Wilde is remembered today chiefly for one poem, "The Lament of the Captive," often called "My Life is Like the Summer Rose." Writing in the tradition of southern romanticism, he composed lyrics on typical subjects: love, the adoration of woman, nature. He had various scholarly interests; for instance, he wrote on literary piracy and the need for an international copyright law. His chief scholarly and critical interests, though, were related to Italy. He wrote an article about the discovery of a portrait of Dante, attributed in Wilde's time to Giotto, and he wanted Congress to purchase a distinguished Italian library. Three of his four chief scholarly writings treat poets of the Italian Renaissance.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, to Richard and Mary Newitt Wilde, Richard Henry Wilde came to America with his family in 1796. They settled in Baltimore, and six years later Wilde's father died, having lost...