There is no Death is a poem by poet and journalist John Luckey McCreery (1835-1906). The original form of the poem was first published on page 41 of Philadelphia’s Arthur’s Home Journal 22 in July of 1863 with McCreery’s name in the byline. McCreery then published the poem in his own newspaper, The Delaware County Journal (Iowa). However, the poem was then reprinted, but not cited, by one Eugene Bulmer of the Chicago-based Farmer’s Advocate in an article regarding immortality. Another reproduction of the poem in a Wisconsin newspaper accredited the poem to “E. Bulwer,” Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton of England. Bulwer’s reputation allowed to poem to quickly gain popularity, and it was soon being reprinted in publications around the world despite McCreery’s protests (which few paid much attention to). Publisher Harper & Brothers included the poem in an 1870 edition of a school reader they produced; McCreery contacted the publisher about the mistake and after exchanging letters with Lytton’s son to confirm the mistake, McCreery’s name was restored as the author of the poem. The particular version in Prudence Person’s scrapbook is likely a derivative of a revised version of the poem McCreery published in 1883, with 16 verses as opposed to the 10 in the original version.
Gardner, Martin. Famous Poems from Bygone Days. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. 106. Print.
"Stories of Famous Poems." Colorado Spring Gazette 11 Dec. 1910: n. pag. Print.
""There Is No Death" Author of the Poem Is Finally Identified." Lima News 14 May 1989: n. pag. Print.

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