[2] He attended a classical school where he befriended Paul Hamilton Hayne, his lifelong friend and fellow poet who would edit Timrod's work after he died.

From 1848 to 1853, he submitted a number of poems to the Southern Literary Messenger under the pen name Aglaus, where he attracted some attention for his abilities.

He was a member of Charleston's literati, and with John Dickson Bruns and Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, could often be found in the company of their leader, William Gilmore Simms, whom they referred to as "Father Abbot," from one of his novels.

[3] In 1856, he accepted a posting as a teacher at the plantation of Colonel William Henry Cannon in the area that would later become Florence, South Carolina.

"[3] Among his students was the young lady who would later become his bride and the object of a number of his poems – the "fair Saxon" Kate Goodwin.

Part of the poem was read aloud at this meeting: Hath not the morning dawned with added light?

Timrod and his colleague Julian Selby printed the last issues of the South Carolinian as shells were falling nearby.

[6] Due to the vigor of his editorials, he was forced into hiding, his home was burned,[3] and the newspaper office was destroyed.

In economic desperation, he submitted poems written in his strongest style to northern periodicals, but all were coldly declined.

Despite the harshly reduced circumstances, and mounting health problems, he was still able to produce highly regarded poetry.

His "Memorial Ode", composed in the Spring of 1867 "was sung at Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, in May when the graves of the southern dead were decorated.

In seeds of laurel in the earth The blossom of your flame is blown, And somewhere, waiting for its birth, The shaft is in the stone!

He finally succumbed to consumption Sunday morning, October 7, 1867, and was laid to rest in the churchyard at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia next to his son.