Lydia Sigourney: Selected Poetry and Prose

354 Pages·2008·2.268 MB·English

by  Lydia Sigourney, Gary Kelly

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This electronic material is under
copyright protection and is
provided to a single recipient
for review purposes only.
LYDIA SIGOURNEY
SELECTED POETRY AND PROSE
A First Modern English Edition of
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
broadview editions
series editor: L.W. Conolly
THEDISTAFFGOSPELS 1
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Portrait used by Lydia Sigourney in her publications for many years..
2 THEDISTAFFGOSPELS
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LYDIA SIGOURNEY
SELECTED POETRY AND PROSE
Les Évangiles des Quenouilles
translated by Thomas K.Abbott
with revisions by Lara Denis
edited by Gary Kelly
broadview editions
THEDISTAFFGOSPELS 3
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©2008 Gary Kelly
All rights reserved.The use of any part of this publication reproduced,transmitted in
any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or other-
wise,or stored in a retrieval system,without prior written consent of the publisher—
or in the case of photocopying,a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency),One Yonge Street,Suite 1900,Toronto,Ontario M5E 1E5—is an
infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Sigourney,L.H.(Lydia Howard),1791-1865
Lydia Sigourney :selected poetry and prose / edited by Gary Kelly.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55111-620-4
I.Kelly,Gary. II. Title.
PS2833.A5K44 2008 811′.3 C2008-903131-8
Broadview Editions
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Contents
Acknowledgements (cid:127) 9
Introduction (cid:127) 11
Lydia Huntley Sigourney:ABrief Chronology (cid:127) 57
A Note on the Texts (cid:127) 59
Lydia Sigourney:Selected Poetry and Prose (cid:127) 61
1.From Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse(1815) (cid:127) 63
“The Desertion of the Muse” (cid:127) 63
“The Rose” (cid:127) 65
“The Creation” (cid:127) 66
2.From The Square Table(1819) (cid:127) 68
“The Advice of Tabitha Thistle,to Young Women,who are
Desirous of Getting Married” (cid:127) 68
3.From Traits of the Aborigines of America(1822) (cid:127) 70
4.From Sketch of Connecticut,Forty Years Since(1824) (cid:127) 81
5.From Poems(1827) (cid:127) 97
“Grave of the Mother of Washington” (cid:127) 97
“The Coral Insect” (cid:127) 99
“Africa” (cid:127) 100
“Caroline Matilda,to Christian the Seventh of
Denmark” (cid:127) 101
“To a Wasp” (cid:127) 103
“To an Ancient Rocking Chair” (cid:127) 105
6.From The Token(1833) (cid:127) 107
“To a Fragment of Silk” (cid:127) 107
7.From How to Be Happy(1833) (cid:127) 108
8.From Letters to Young Ladies(1833) (cid:127) 110
From Letter I:“On the Improvement of Time” (cid:127) 110
From Letter II:“On Female Employments” (cid:127) 113
From Letter III:“On Dress,Manners,and
Accomplishments” (cid:127) 115
From Letter IV:“On Books” (cid:127) 116
From Letter V:“On Conversation” (cid:127) 119
From Letter VI:“On Doing Good” (cid:127) 120
From Letter VII:“On Self-Government” (cid:127) 121
From Letter VIII:“On Motives to Exertion” (cid:127) 123
9.From Sketches(1834) (cid:127) 124
“The Father” (cid:127) 124
10.From American Annals of Education(1834) (cid:127) 133
“On the Policy of Elevating the Standard of Female
Education” (cid:127) 133
11.From Poetry for Children(1834) (cid:127) 138
“The Rat” (cid:127) 138
“War” (cid:127) 139
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“Difference of Color” (cid:127) 140
12.From Poems(1834) (cid:127) 141
“Connecticut River” (cid:127) 141
“The War-Spirit” (cid:127) 145
“Slavery” (cid:127) 147
“The Liberated Convict” (cid:127) 148
“Indian Names” (cid:127) 149
13.From Tales and Essays for Children(1835) (cid:127) 151
“Hymn” (cid:127) 151
14.From Zinzendorff,and Other Poems(1835) (cid:127) 152
“Niagara” (cid:127) 152
“Death among the Trees” (cid:127) 153
“Agriculture” (cid:127) 155
“The Deaf,Dumb and Blind Girl of the American
Asylum at Hartford,Con.” (cid:127) 156
“Napoleon’s Epitaph” (cid:127) 159
“Death of Mrs.Harriet W.L.Winslow,Missionary to
Ceylon” (cid:127) 164
“Religious Tracts” (cid:127) 165
15.From Olive Buds(1836) (cid:127) 165
“Walks in Childhood” (cid:127) 165
16.From Select Poems(1838) (cid:127) 168
“To a Shred of Linen” (cid:127) 168
“On the Admission of Michigan into the Union” (cid:127) 171
17.From Letters to Mothers(1838) (cid:127) 173
Letter I:“Privileges of the Mother” (cid:127) 173
18.From The Works of Mrs.Hemans(1840) (cid:127) 178
From “Essay on the Genius of Mrs.Hemans” (cid:127) 178
19.From Pocahontas,and Other Poems(1841) (cid:127) 182
“The Butterfly” (cid:127) 182
“To a Fragment of Cotton” (cid:127) 183
“The Milliners and Fishes” (cid:127) 185
20.From Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands(1842) (cid:127) 189
“Carlisle” (cid:127) 189
From “Westminster Abbey” (cid:127) 196
21.From Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands(1844) (cid:127) 197
“The Rose Geranium” (cid:127) 197
22.From Poetry for Seamen(1845) (cid:127) 201
“The Whaler’s Song” (cid:127) 201
23.From Scenes in My Native Land(1845) (cid:127) 203
From “Niagara” (cid:127) 203
24.From Myrtis:with Other Etchings and Sketchings(1846) (cid:127) 212
“The Yankee” (cid:127) 212
25.From Water-Drops(1848) (cid:127) 225
“Woman’s Patriotism” (cid:127) 225
26.From Illustrated Poems(1849) (cid:127) 227
“Oriska” (cid:127) 227
6 CONTENTS
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“The Thriving Family” (cid:127) 234
27.From The Ladies’Wreath(1851) (cid:127) 236
“The Crushed Mouse” (cid:127) 236
28.From TheLadies’Repository(1854) (cid:127) 238
“Are the Aged a Privileged Order?” (cid:127) 238
29.From The Western Home,and Other Poems(1854) (cid:127) 241
“Wild Flowers” (cid:127) 241
“Fallen Forests” (cid:127) 243
“Powers’s Statue of the Greek Slave” (cid:127) 244
“The Muse” (cid:127) 245
30.From Past Meridian(1854) (cid:127) 248
“The Pleasures of Winter” (cid:127) 248
31.From Sayings of the Little Ones,and Poems for Their Mothers
(1855) (cid:127) 250
“Humorous,or Peculiar Uses of Language” (cid:127) 250
“High Principles,or Sweet Sentiments and
Affections” (cid:127) 251
“Piety:or Words Preceding Death” (cid:127) 251
“Poems for Mothers”:“Household Festivals” (cid:127) 252
“Thoughts in a Church-Yard” (cid:127) 253
32.From TheLadies’Repository(1855) (cid:127) 254
“Miss Tabitha’s Farming” (cid:127) 254
33.From Lucy Howard’s Journal(1858) (cid:127) 260
34.From The Daily Counsellor(1859) (cid:127) 284
“January II” (cid:127) 284
“February IX” (cid:127) 285
“June XIV” (cid:127) 286
35.From Gleanings(1860) (cid:127) 287
“Up and Doing” (cid:127) 287
“The Sewing Machine” (cid:127) 289
“Breakfast” (cid:127) 290
36.From Selections from Various Sources(1862) (cid:127) 292
“Use of Biography,to History” (cid:127) 292
“Precepts of Queen Christina” (cid:127) 292
“Song” (cid:127) 293
“The Provisions for Life” (cid:127) 293
“From Mrs.Hemans” (cid:127) 293
“Religion in the Family” (cid:127) 294
“Fame” (cid:127) 294
37.From Letters of Life(1866) (cid:127) 295
From Letter X:“Love and Marriage” (cid:127) 295
From Letter XIII:“Literature” (cid:127) 298
Appendix A:Letters and Manuscripts (cid:127) 305
Appendix B:Views and Reviews of Sigourney and Her
Work (cid:127) 323
Select Bibliography (cid:127) 349
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8 INTRODUCTION
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the increasing number of scholars and critics who
are recovering the lives and work of Lydia Huntley Sigourney and
her contemporaries;without their pioneering efforts this edition
would not have been possible. I am also grateful to staffs of the
University of Alberta Library and Beinecke and Stirling Memor-
ial Libraries, Yale University, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe
Centre and Connecticut Historical Society,Hartford,Connecti-
cut; their help was indispensable to this project. I gratefully
acknowledge permission of the Connecticut Historical Society
and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center to publish from manu-
scripts in their collections. For funding I am grateful to the
Canada Research Chairs program and the Standard Research
Grants program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.“Thanks”can hardly express what I owe to
Kirsten MacLeod for her interest and support.Thanks to Broad-
view Press for letting me do this,for being so patient,and just for
being.
I dedicate this book to my colleague Patricia Demers in grati-
tude for her wise counsel and exemplary scholarship and profes-
sionalism.
LYDIASIGOURNEY:SELECTEDPOETRYANDPROSE 9
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Lydia Huntley’s birthplace,the house of Mrs Lathrop,Norwich,Connecticut.
Sigourney house,Hartford,home from a year after marriage until 1838.
10 INTRODUCTION