[12] He was chosen to speak at his commencement; his address was titled "Individuality". [18] Harvard president Josiah Quincy III relieved Very of his duties, referring to a "nervous collapse" that required him to be left in the care of his younger brother Washington Very, himself a freshman at Harvard. To help control himself, he avoided speaking with or even looking at women—he called it his "sacrifice of Beauty".[4]. Emerson wrote in his essay "The American Scholar": "We will walk on our own feet; we will work with His fellow patients reportedly thanked him as he left. Though his friends had feared for his martyrdom, it had not occurred. He was soon dismissed, and returned to the house of his mother in Salem. His whole bearing made an impression as if himself were detached from his thought and his body were another's. Emerson, however, was surprised at Very's behavior in larger groups. He was well-known and respected amongst the Transcendentalists, though he had a mental breakdown early in his career. Jones Very: Emerson’s “Brave Saint.” Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1942. The day of reckoning was nearly upon him. He was known as a scholar of William Shakespeare and many of his poems were Shakespearean sonnets. He was 20 years of age when he entered as a sophomore, 3 years older than most of his classmates. [5] His father, also named Jones Very, was a captain during the War of 1812 and was held in Nova Scotia for a time by the British as a prisoner of war. Jones Very was born on August 28, 1813 in Salem, Massachusetts. These early works, though they did display a lyrical potential, were not particularly effective. He professed to be taught by the Spirit and to write under its inspiration. His fascination with Hamlet should not come as a surprise. “Jones Very: A New England Mystic.”, Index entry for Jones Very at Poets' Corner, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jones_Very&oldid=881574464, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 February 2019, at 13:39. She was quickly converted to his cause. Essays and Poems by Jones Very, containing the essays Shakespeare and Hamlet, as well as sixty-odd poems, was published in September 1839, one year after God had set up shop in the body of a man. . [19] The first signs of a breakdown came shortly after meeting Emerson, as Very was completing an essay on William Shakespeare. He heavily studied epic poetry and was invited to lecture on the topic in his home town, which drew the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Jones Very was a precocious young man whose gifts and devotion to his studies enabled him to enter Harvard in 1833 despite his poverty. [17] At the meeting, held at the home of Caleb Stetson in Medford, Massachusetts, Very was actively engaged in the discussion, building his reputation as a mystic within that circle. "[33], Editor and critic Rufus Wilmot Griswold was impressed enough by Very's poetry to include him in the first edition of his anthology The Poets and Poetry of America in 1842. During this voyage they visited Kronborg Castle, the home of Hamlet, forming an association which was to haunt and inspire young Very in the years to come. His mother, Lydia Very, was known for being an aggressive freethinker who made her atheistic beliefs known to all. By September 1839, his role was complete. He ventured, withal, to warn me of falling into idolatries, while he brought a sonnet or two (since printed) for my benefit. Very Jones was now a pure vessel through which flowed the same spirit of God that had flowed through Jesus Christ. Griswold, Rufus W. to Ralph Waldo Emerson. [21] As he told Henry Ware Jr., professor of pulpit eloquence and pastoral care at Harvard Divinity School, divine inspiration helped him suddenly understand the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and that Christ was having his Second Coming within him. The more radical poems were expunged, grammar and wording were normalized; the revolutionary nature of the work was softened for the public taste. A fire that bright cannot burn perpetually in a man. Jones Very History Will New Direction We feel unsatisfied until we know ourselves akin even with that greatness which made the spots on which it rested hallowed; and until, by our own lives, and by converse with the thoughts they have bequeathed us, we feel that … He was well-known and respected amongst the Transcendentalists, though he had a mental breakdown early in his career. The lyric "Hold on to that feeling" shows seizing the day and nonconformity. It was rather the work of a similar though far from identical mind. While he was visiting, Emerson wrote in his journal on October 29, "J. Alcott, Amos Bronson (ed. ... George Ripley, Thomas Treadwell Stone, Jones Very, and Walt Whitman. With the light of grace shining through him so clearly, Very could not remain in his position at Harvard for long. The lyric "Don't stop believin'" shows standing up for your rights and Jones Very. [2] Very lectured on epic poetry on April 4 of that year, after he had walked twenty miles from Salem to Concord to deliver it. [29] McLean's superintendent Luther Bell took credit for saving him "from the delusion of being a prophet extraordinaire", which Luther thought was caused by Very's digestive system being "entirely out of order". "[45], The modern reassessment of Jones Very as an author of literary importance can be dated to a 1936 essay by Yvor Winters[46] who wrote of the poet, “In the past two decades two major American writers have been rediscovered and established securely in their rightful places in literary history. Very continued to spread his gospel throughout the winter. A few weeks ago he visited me....He is a remarkable man. They were fascinated by each other's company, though their relationship was never entirely placid. Very did not want his poems changed, for he regarded them to be not his work, but rather the work of the spirit. He was soon to develop a zealous belief that was far more powerful than his mother's zealous refusal to believe. I refer to Emily Dickinson and Herman Melville. He was never comfortable with women, and at this point he decided to eschew their society entirely. Transcendentalism was one of the main theological threads in the fabric of American Unitarianism in the 19th C. I’m one of those people who still think of themselves as a transcendentalists. The spring and summer of 1838 saw Jones Very hard at work on his essay on Shakespeare, which was completed in September. [10], Very enrolled at Harvard College in 1834. The few friendships he formed tended to be with his professors. [25], After this, Very told her she would soon feel different, explaining, "I am the Second Coming". He is insane with God — diswitted in the contemplation of the holiness of Divinity. [1] By 1827, he left school when his mother told him he must take the place of his father and care for the family. [13] Though Very never completed his divinity degree, he held temporary pastorates in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Though Hawthorne treated him kindly, he was not impressed by Very. He wanted to transcend his sinful birth. [4] His first few poems were published in his hometown newspaper, the Salem Observer, while he completed his studies. Very also began to compose poetry. The summer of 1838 was a pivotal time. "When he is in the room with other persons, speech stops, as if there were a corpse in the apartment", he wrote. Very then headed for Concord. At first, all men agreed he was mad. [23] He then cried out to his students, "Flee to the mountains, for the end of all things is at hand". This is mysticism in its highest form. As he wrote to Margaret Fuller, "Such a mind cannot be lost". He was released after a month when the hospital realized that a) he was harmless and b) they could do nothing for him. The spirit breathed to him a cycle of sonnets, the last of which is entitled "The Garden.". . Jones Very poet from United States was born on August 28, 1813, had 66 years and died on May 8, 1880. Very's attempts to stoke the flames were ineffectual. Rev. The movement was a reaction to, or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality. [39] In his last forty years, Very did very little. [14] Emerson made up for the meager $10 payment by inviting Very to his home for dinner. Lydia Very cursed her hard lot in life with an extreme and vehement passion. He wanted to become closer to his deceased father by means of channeling the will of The Father. She drew him in to her world, a world that included Emerson, Alcott, Channing, Hawthorne and other notable freethinkers, poets and progressive clergymen. One of Very's students, a fellow native of Salem named Samuel Johnson Jr., said that people ridiculed Very behind his back since he had "gained the fame of being cracked (or crazy, if you are not acquainted with Harvard technicalities)". Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern United States.wikipedia. Poems about Nature. His plan to destroy all trace of the sensual self and open himself up to the influx of God was proceeding apace, as was evident in his journals and the lovely sonnets he submitted to the Salem Observer, of which "To the Canary Bird" and "Beauty" are excellent examples. Contents. "[43] James Freeman Clarke admired Very's poetry enough to have several published in his journal, the Western Messenger, between 1838 and 1840. . Her passion could not withstand her son's. 3–45) is an informative survey of the historiography of transcendentalism, and Lawrence Buell’s concluding essay (pp. Yet he was not the all in all. Her passion could not withstand her son's. Jones Very (1813–1880) sister projects: Wikipedia article, Commons category, quotes, Wikidata item. His essays, primarily his two Bowdoin Prize lectures, strained against the shackles of religious and literary orthodoxy. Living, not thinking, he regards as the worship meet for the soul. He seems worthy to be well known. [20] During one of his tutoring sessions, Very declared that he was "infallible: that he was a man of heaven, and superior to all the world around him". Jones Very Selected Poetry. History The publication of Emerson's 1836 essay Nature is usually taken to be the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. His mother was a passionate woman, outcast from society for her devotion to disbelief. George Willis Cooke, comp. . Jones Very (1813-1880). [7], As a boy, Very was studious, well-behaved, and solitary. Transcendentalism has its origins in New England of the early 1800s and the birth of Unitarianism. [27] While there, he finished an essay on Hamlet, arguing that the play is about "the great reality of a soul unsatisfied in its longings after immortality" and that "Hamlet has been called mad, but as we think, Shakespeare thought more of his madness than he did of the wisdom of the rest of the play". Sylvester Judd, Elizabeth Peabody, George Ripley, Amos Bronson Alcott, and Jones Very. While walking by his side, I remember, he seemed spectral, — and somehow using my feet instead of his own, keeping as near me as he could, and jostling me frequently. Winters,Yvor. What he lacked, a gift that Shakespeare consciously declined, was a perfect wisdom. It was all for naught. Very often came to see me. He was known as a scholar of William Shakespeare and many of his poems were Shakespearean sonnets. In a sense he was taking the tenets of Christianity and of particularly Transcendentalism to their logical conclusion, or at least one of their logical conclusions. Barlett, William Irving. Very's personal philosophy was accelerating its breakaway from the hide-bound conservatism of the Harvard faculty. Don't Stop Believin' By: Journey "Don't stop believin' Hold on to that feelin'" This song is full of transcendentalist themes. David Robinson, “The Exemplary Self and the Transcendent Self in the Poetry of Jones Very… Nature was for Very not a sacred text. "[40] He died on May 8, 1880 and, upon hearing of Very's death, Alcott wrote a brief remembrance on May 16, 1880: The newspapers record the death of Jones Very of Salem, Mass. Very was, however, a bit too anxious to share his good news of great joy. One of these, the Reverend Upham, was somewhat less than convinced, and had Very forcibly committed to McLean Hospital in nearby Charlestown. September 18, 1841. 100% (1/1) spiritual spiritually spiritual life. What Form do Transcendentalist Poems Take? He was intense and somewhat socially awkward. Jones Very was an American essayist, poet, clergymen, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalism movement. Jones Very (August 28, 1813 – May 8, 1880) was an American poet, essayist, clergyman, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalism movement. Jones Very. Emerson would subsequently refer to Very as his "brave saint." They never married. Himself he had renounced, thus rendering him wide open to God. He was soon dismissed, and returned to the house of his mother in Salem. If so, there yet linger glimpses of wisdom in his memory. Letter in the manuscript collection at Houghton Library, Harvard University. Jones Very was thus the inevitable omega of transcendentalism. Many of his later poems were never collected but only distributed in manuscript form among the Transcendentalists. As biographer Edwin Gittleman wrote, "Although he lived until 1880, Very's effective life was over by the end of 1840. There is, of course, the psychoanalytic interpretation. Gura, Phillip F. American Transcendentalism: A History. 1903. That day was September the thirteenth. Jones Very (28 August 1813-8 May 1880), Transcendentalist poet and friend of Emerson and Hawthorne, is today best known for his intensely pious religious sonnets describing the nature of the "will-less existence" which he attempted to live and popularize in the late 1830s. This can be viewed as an active rebellion against his mother's tenacious defense of atheism. He had become interested in the works of Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. [6] When the younger Jones Very was ten, his father, by then a shipmaster, took him on a sailing voyage to Russia. George Willis Cooke, comp. Lawrence Buell, “Transcendental Egoism in Very and Whitman,” Literary Transcendentalism: Style and Vision in the American Renaissance (Cornell UP, 1973), 312–330. [11] After graduating, Very served as a tutor in Greek before entering Harvard Divinity School,[2] thanks to the financial assistance of an uncle. Unable to deal with the temptation, Very decided that the best course of action was to avoid the temptation. Very began to expand his reading during this period to the literature of the day, particularly the British and German Romantics and, of course, Shakespeare. Very considered himself to be this new Teacher. [41], The first critical review of Very's book was written by Margaret Fuller and published in Orestes Brownson's Boston Quarterly Review; it said Very's poems had "an elasticity of spirit, a genuine flow of thought, and unsought nobleness and purity", though she admitted she preferred the prose in the collection over the poetry. Usually, Transcendental poetry made use of some kind of meter. With the light of grace shining through him so clearly, Very could not remain in his position at Harvard for long. 605–619) charts the place of transcendentalism in American literary history. He did not fathom the ways of God; he did not allow God to fully express himself through him. Transcendentalism clearly eluded succinct definition in Thoreau's time as much as it does in our own. Topic. Very pleaded with both Emerson and his wife Lidian, with whom he formed a rather close relationship. Very was winnowing the last wisps of worldliness and will from his soul. However, neither Channing nor Emerson nor Alcott nor Hawthorne nor Sophia Peabody nor Elizabeth Peabody nor in fact anyone was willing to give up all in order to follow him. The fullness of God had departed from his frame. His father spent a great deal of time at sea, therefore seeing little of his family. He in essence went where others feared to tread. [11] He graduated from Harvard in 1836, ranked number two in his class. He read it carefully, adding marginalia. Jones Very spent the remaining forty years of his life basking in the afterglow. Very as a tutor was much beloved by his students. In Very, Emerson saw someone that had gone too far; in Emerson, Very saw someone who was unwilling to go far enough. Jones Very was thus the inevitable omega of transcendentalism. It was my fortune to have known the man while he was tutor in Harvard College and writing his Sonnets and Essays on Shakespeare, which were edited by Emerson, and published in 1839. [20] In August 1837, while traveling by train, he was suddenly overcome with terror at its speed until he realized he was being "borne along by a divine engine and undertaking his life-journey". He died in 1880. I was, therefore, fascinated to find an excellent article on transcendentalist poet Jones Very online. He was known as a scholar of William Shakespeare and many of his poems were Shakespearean sonnets. [2], Very continued writing throughout his life, though sparingly. 509 Related Articles [filter] Spirituality. "[22] Very said he was also tormented by strong sexual desires which he believed were only held in check by the will of God. In respect to the doctrine of the submission of the will, he agreed with them in principle; but whereas they recommended the surrender, he practised it, and they regarded him with amazement.”[48] Subsequently, William Irving Bartlett, in 1942, outlined the basic biographical facts of Very's life in Jones Very, Emerson’s “Brave Saint.”[46] A complete scholarly edition of Very's poetic works belatedly appeared, over a century after the poet's death, in 1993.[49]. Yet there was more. Certain disagreements as to the nature of this volume led Very to reenter the world in June 1839 in order to discuss these arrangements with Emerson. [42] She mocked the "sing song" style of the poems and questioned his religious mission. He was granted by God perfect genius, perfect knowledge of this mortal coil. His temperament was delicate and nervous, disposed to visionariness and a dreamy idealism, stimulated by over-studies and the school of thought then in the ascendant. [12] Emerson signed Very's personal copy of Nature with the words: "Har[mony] of Man with Nature Must Be Reconciled With God". Jones Very serves as reminder that the Transcendentalist attempt to revise the relationship between the individual and society was not as simple as the Hallmark version of Thoreau (“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined!”), and that the challenge to rationality was not always as abstract as Emerson’s “transparent eyeball.” He was soon dismissed, and returned to the house of his mother in Salem. Jones Very was thus the inevitable omega of transcendentalism. Read more about Jones Very—Selected Poetry Selected quotes from Coleridge relevant to Nature Emerson and the other Transcendentalists were introduced to the philosophical thought of Coleridge, especially Aids to Reflection, by James Marsh of Vermont, perhaps the American birthplace of Transcendentalism. New York: Hill and Wang, 2007. . She loved her children with a smothering love even as she despised her neighbors and their religion, often to the point of near-hysteria. The bubbling brook doth leap when I come by, Because my feet find measure with its call, The birds know when the friend they love is nigh, For I am known to them both great and small; The flower that on the lovely hill-side grows [37] Emerson suggested that Very's temporary mental instability was worth the message he had delivered. Emerson did not believe Very's claim and, noting the poor writing, he asked, "cannot the spirit parse & spell? I do not know but I ought to submit to such changes as done by the rightful authority of an Editor but I felt a little sad at the aspect of the piece. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern region of the United States. [14] In 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson arranged a talk by Very at the Concord Lyceum. That same year he discovered Emerson's Nature. [2] It was during these years that he held roles as a visiting minister in Eastport, Maine and North Beverly, Massachusetts, though these roles were temporary because he had become too shy. Very produced some of his finest poetry during this period, or rather the spirit of God by way of Very produced some of its finest poetry. He often took a personal interest in these young men, going for walks with them and visiting them in their rooms. He wrote to Emerson asking for more information about him and expressing his opinion of his poetry: "Though comparatively unknown, he seems to be a true poet. His class was not as formal as those of the more established professors, and he was not afraid to leave Greek behind and deliver soliloquies aimed at the moral improvement of his young listeners. Very charmed us all by telling us he hated us all."[12]. Emerson made his first acquaintance with Very just weeks before he was to deliver his Divinity School Address that was to send the Harvard faculty into a paroxysm of consternation. She concluded: "I am... greatly interested in Mr Very. Jones Very was an American essayist, poet, clergymen, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalism movement. [32] The poems collected in this volume were chiefly Shakespearean sonnets. Very found bits of Nature appealing, but only those that conformed with his nearly developed weltanschauung. Jones Very is similar to these writers: Walt Whitman, Margaret Fuller, Emily Dickinson and more. The principal, Henry Kemble Oliver, exposed his young assistant to philosophers and writers, including James Mackintosh, to influence his religious beliefs and counteract his mother's atheism. He was known as a scholar of William Shakespeare and many of his poems were Shakespearean sonnets. Transcendentalism was an American literary, philosophical and political movement in New England in the early 19 th century.. Transcendentalism was the belief in spiritual or transcendental truths beyond sense perception and material existence, according to Octavius Brooks Frothingham in his book Transcendentalism in New England: But persisting, he attained to the advantage of bringing every man of his acquaintance into true relations with him... To stand in true relations with men in a false age is worth a fit of insanity, is it not?[38]. Very plunged whole-heartedly into his work, so much so that he graduated second in his class. [27] Emerson was sympathetic with Very's plight because he himself had recently been ostracized after his controversial lecture, the "Divinity School Address". Transcendentalism was concentrated in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, which was the home of many of its literary members, such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, the Alcotts, Theodore Parker, Jones Very, George Ripley, the Peabody Sisters, and the Channings. Either he is consumed, or the fire must inevitably fade. Very, in despair of attracting apostles, retired from the world six months after his epiphany. [26] As she recalled, He looked much flushed and his eyes very brilliant and unwinking. It was Reverend Charles Wentworth Upham who finally had him committed. 1 Works. These figures were to compose the audience for Very's passion play. [33] William Ellery Channing admired Very's poetry as well, writing that his insanity "is only superficial". Here is Transcendentalism in whole, with Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller restored to their place alongside such contemporaries as Bronson Alcott, George Ripley, Jones Very, Theodore Parker, James Freeman Clarke, Orestes Brownson, and Frederick Henry Hedge. Writers similar to or like Jones Very. Jones Very was born in 1813 in Salem, Massachusetts to Captain Jones Very and his first cousin Lydia Very. So just how did a lonely, brilliant but erratic young poet from Salem come to the realization that he was the chosen one of God? Very was born on August 28, 1813,[1] in Salem, Massachusetts and spent much of his childhood at sea. Jones Very (August 28, 1813 - May 8, 1880) was an American poet, essayist, clergyman, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalist movement. Odell Shepard). In this magnum opus Very combined his infatuation with Hamlet (a topic which was later to be expanded in his essay on Hamlet, a companion essay to the Shakespeare piece) with image of Shakespeare as a divinely inspired poet. His shadowy aspect at times gave him a ghostly air. [18], Very was known as an eccentric, prone to odd behavior and may have suffered from bipolar disorder. JONES VERY, THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS, AND THE UNITARIAN TRADITION DAVID ROBINSON UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON, WISCONSIN 53706 Although he considered himself set apart from the world, a man through whom the Spirit revealed a higher truth, Jones Very has consistently provided his critics with an irresistible challenge He immersed himself in the theology of the Unitarian creed, intending for himself a career as a minister and poet. When Ware did not believe him, Very said, "I had thought you did the will of the Father, and that I should receive some sympathy from you—But I now find that you are doing your own will, and not the will of your father". A year later, his father had Very serve as a cabin boy on a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. In his essay "Friendship", Emerson referred to Very: I knew a man who under a certain religious frenzy cast off this drapery, and spoke to the conscience of every person he encountered, and that with great insight and beauty. Very's religious monomania began to take shape in the waning days of his undergraduate career. It was born from a debate between “New Light” theologians, who believed that religion should focus on an emotional experience, and “Old Light” opponents, who valued reason in their religious approach.These “Old Lights” became known first as “liberal Christians” and then as Unitarians, and were defined by the belief that there wa… [24] He performed similar "baptisms" to other people throughout Salem, including ministers. [28] The same month he was released, Very stayed with Emerson at his home in Concord for a week. Very wrote to Emerson in July 1842, "Perhaps they were all improvements but I preferred my own lines. Jones thus grew up shy and reserved, and on the outskirts of village life. Jones Very (1813-1880). [15] Unlike Hawthorne, Emerson found him "remarkable" and, when Very showed up at his home unannounced along with Cornelius Conway Felton in 1838, Emerson invited several other friends, including Henry David Thoreau, to meet him. He was disappointed, however, that Emerson, serving as editor of the journal, altered his poems. [31] He helped Very publish a small volume, Essays and Poems in 1839. Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Prophet, poet and madman, Jones Very was, to say the very least, unique among the men of his time. Very's "twelve-month state of grace terminated in September 1839, as he predicted it would" (Gittleman, 360). Very was then the dreamy mystic of our circle of Transcendentalists, and a subject of speculation by us. . His only real contact with his father was a sea voyage lasting two years undertaken when the boy was nine. There was no self left, therefore all was Divine, and the figure of Christ had returned to earth in the form of a man. [25], Very was institutionalized for a month at a hospital near Boston,[19] the McLean Asylum, as he wrote, "contrary to my will". [35] In January 1843, his work was included in the first issue of The Pioneer, a journal edited by James Russell Lowell which also included the first publication of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart".[36]. Very lived the majority of his life as a recluse from then on, issuing poetry only sparingly. Of prime importance, however, was the spiritual development that was beginning to take place. Nature. "[34] He was never widely read, and was largely forgotten by the end of the nineteenth century, but in the 1830s and 1840s the Transcendentalists, including Emerson, as well as William Cullen Bryant, praised his work. Whether Emerson's witty reply, "that the Spirit should be a better speller," qualified the mystic's vision does not appear otherwise than that the printed volume shows no traces of illiteracy in the text. He was well-known and respected amongst the Transcendentalists, though he had a mental breakdown early in his career. [30], Emerson saw a kindred spirit in Very and defended his sanity. [24] After returning to Salem, he visited Elizabeth Peabody on September 16, 1838,[25] apparently having given up his rule "not to speak or look at women". 1903. His sonnets and Shakespearean essays surpass any that have since appeared in subtlety and simplicity of execution. As his father died when he was just 11, he was raised mostly by his mother--an atheist whom Robert D. Richardson, Jr. … In 1836 Very assumed the role of Greek Tutor and unofficial divinity student. Jones Very, (born August 28, 1813, Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.—died May 8, 1880, Salem), American Transcendentalist poet and Christian mystic. Amos Bronson Alcott wrote of Very in December 1838: I received a letter on Monday of this week from Jones Very of Salem, formerly Tutor in Greek at Harvard College — which institution he left, a few weeks since, being deemed insane by the Faculty.