Unrequited Love at Maud Muller’s Spring
on the road from South Berwick to York Maine

MORE poems by Whittier & others

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892) knew a thing or two about unrequited love. The Quaker poet of Amesbury. MA died a bachelor while vacationing in Seacoast NH. This romantic poem, legend, says, was inspired by one of Whittier’s visits to this region. Today a marker indicates the spot where Whittier reportedly stopped for drink. In this classic poem, Maud meets the love of her life, but neither she nor the Judge reacts to their meeting, and both grow old separately.

SEE MAUD PARODY by Bret Harte

Whittier himself did not think much of the poem which he once said was not worth analysis. It is fictional, and when readers asked the correct pronunciation of the heroines's name, Whittier said he probably should have used the name "Miller" instead. Written and first published in 1854, it grew in popularity after the Civil War when Whittier's fame peaked after another long nostalgic poem called 'Snow-Bound". The story, legend says, was inspired by a summer trip to coastal Maine.  

Although the poem appears widely on the Web, our version includes the illustrations by Irish-born W J Hennessy (1839-1917) from the 1867 gift book. We have spaced the illustrations just as they appear on the pages of the original green cloth-covered volume. The edition was published by Whittier’s friend James T. Fields, who was born and raised in Portsmouth, NH. The poem was adapted in a 1912 silent film by the same name starring Vivian Rich as Maud and Donald MacDonald as the Judge. -- JDR
(c) SeacoastNH.com

OUTSIDE LINKS:
   Our Maud Miller Spring Monument web page 
   1902 postcard portrait of Maud web page  
   Sheet Music from Maud Muller production web page