Richard Henry Dana Sr. (November 15, 1787 – February 2, 1879) was an American poet, critic and lawyer.

He married Ruth Charlotte Smith and they had four children including Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Despite having graduated from there, Dana accused Harvard of smothering genius, and believed that the minds of poets were more insightful than the general community.

In 1817, he and others in the club founded the North American Review[3][4] as an outlet for his criticism, though he lost editorial control of it on account of his opposition to standard conventions.

[2] As a writer of fiction, Dana was an early practitioner of Gothic literature, particularly with his novel Paul Felton (1822), a tale of madness and murder.