Author: Clarke, McDonald
Biography:
CLARKE, McDonald (1798-1842: Hollis)
On a title-page of 1822, he describes himself as "the mad poet"; his Afara volumes were subtitled "The Belles of Broadway"; and as "the mad poet of Broadway" he has ever since been known. He was born in Bath ME and spent part of his childhood in New London CT, where J. C. Brainard (q.v.) was a playmate. By 1819 he was in New York, endeavouring to earn a living by writing. He married an actress, Mary Brundage, but they later separated. Halleck (q.v.), another friend, declared all his eccentricities "amiable." He was drowned by water from an open tap in an asylum to which he had been taken for his own safety by a policeman who found him "destitute and apparently demented." (Appleton; Duyckinck; DAB) HJ
Books written (10):
New York: printed for the author, 1820
New York: printed for the author, 1820
Gotham [New York]: printed at the Sentimental Epicure's Ordinary , A.M. 5822 [1822]
New York: printed by Gray and Bunce, 1823
2nd edn. New York: [McDonald Clarke], 1824
New York: [no publisher], 1825
New York: [no publisher], 1826
New York: 1826
New York: [no publisher], 1829
Boston: B. B. Mussey, 1833