In the brilliant constellation of nineteenth-century New England intellectuals, Maria White Lowell shines with a particular poignancy—not merely because her light was extinguished too soon, but because her influence radiated far beyond the slim volume of verses published after her death. Born Anna Maria White on July 8, 1821, in Watertown, Massachusetts, she lived only thirty-two years, yet in that brief span she tra…
“I always say just what I think, as you see, and I trust it will not seem unlovely to you in me as a woman. I do not wish to appear so, but I had rather than give up what I think is truly and undeniably one of woman’s rights in common with men.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Devotional Poets, Love Poets, Romantic Poets, Transcendentalists, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Despair, Sorrow, Longing
On a spring day in 1823, in the small coastal village of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, a child was born who would grow to become one of the most original and underappreciated voices in nineteenth-century American literature. Elizabeth Drew Barstow entered the world on May 6, in a town where the rhythms of the sea shaped daily existence and where salt spray and shipbuilding defined the community's character. The second…
“For my part, I believe I shall die an impenetrable secret, even if I should be subjected to the visits of newspaper reporters, desiring to describe my warts and my wens, and to take down my table and my literary talk.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Death & Mortality, Love Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Wonder, Spirituality
