Woman Poets from History

1. Woman Poets from History By Laura Engelking Click to Proceed Resources

2. A Tremendous Trio

3. Emily Dickenson“This was a Poet – It is That Back to the Tremendous TrioDistills amazing sense From Ordinary Meanings”

4. “The Belle of Amherst” • Born December 10th, 1830 at the family Homestead on Main Street in Amherst. • 1840-47 attended Amherst Academy where she enjoyed academic studies. • 1847 attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary where she was seen as a rebel “without hope”. • "I am growing handsome very fast indeed! I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year. I don't doubt that I will have crowds of admirers at that age.“ Back to Timeline

5. Love “Although Dickinson never married, she had several significant male friends, among them Benjamin Newton, from whom she received her beloved copy of Emerson's Poems, and Henry Vaughn Emmons, with whom she shared some of her own early poetry. There is evidence she received at least one marriage proposal, from George H. Gould, a graduate of Amherst College, which came to naught.” (Emily Dickenson Museum, Childhood and Youth) A Charm invests a face A charm invests a faceImperfectly beheld.The lady dare not lift her veilFor fear it be dispelled.But peers beyond her mesh,And wishes, and denies,Lest interview annul a wantThat image satisfies. Back to Timeline

6. Nature • In her youth kept an Herbarium that is currently held at Harvard University. • 1855 the Dickenson family moved back to her childhood home. • Her father added a conservatory, where she cared for climate-sensitive plants. Nature "Nature" is what we see—The Hill—the Afternoon—Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—Nay—Nature is Heaven—Nature is what we hear—The Bobolink—the Sea—Thunder—the Cricket—Nay—Nature is Harmony—Nature is what we know—Yet have no art to say—So impotent Our Wisdom isTo her Simplicity. Back to Timeline

7. Because I Could Not Stop for Death • 1858-61 Many speculate that the “Master Letters” Dickenson wrote suggest a serious and troubled romantic attachment , that also fueled her creativity in her later works. • She drew great joy from her nieces and nephews, which were born from her brother, and her long time friend, Susan. • She courted with Judge Otis Phillips Lord, her father’s friend. Whom she briefly considered marrying. • From 1858-65 was her most productive era as a poet, which overlapped the Civil War. • The majority of her later life was saturated in death and illness. • Suffered with an eye condition from 1864-65 • Her father Edward Dickenson died in 1874 • Her nephew died at age eight in 1883 • Otis Lord died in 1884 • Back to Timeline

8. Mary Darby RobinsonBack to the Tremendous Trio

9. Formative Years • Born November 27th 1758 • “She was a precocious child, professing a love of melancholy poetry by age seven” (uppen). • Her family was plagued by financial troubles; due to her father leaving with his mistress to begin a whaling station. • The school she first attended was closed because her dean had an “unfeminine propensity” for alcohol. • She acted in David Garrick’s Society Back to Timeline

10. Fast and Furious • She was married to Thomas Robinson April 12th 1774. • She and her mother quickly discovered that Mr. Robinson’s promises of his wealth were fabrications. • The couple spent beyond their means; Mary bought expensive clothes and Thomas gambled with hard drinking friends. • Thomas had a mistress and his friend expressed interest in Mary. • Shortly after their daughter was born, Thomas was arrested for outstanding debts. • The family lived in a prison for some time. • While there Thomas became involved with another woman, and Mary found a female patron for her poetry with whom she became romantically involved~Sonnet Inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of Devonshire.

11. Sonnet Inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of Devonshire • 'TIS NOT thy flowing hair of orient gold,  Nor those bright eyes, like sapphire gems that glow;  Nor cheek of blushing rose, nor breast of snow,The varying passions of the heart could hold: • Those locks, too soon, shall own a silv'ry ray,  Those radiant orbs their magic fires forego;Insatiate TIME shall steal those tints away,  Warp thy fine form, and bend thy beauties low: • But the rare wonders of thy polish'd MIND  Shall mock the empty menace of decay;The GEM, that in thy SPOTLESS BREAST enshrin'd,  Glows with the light of intellectual ray;Shall, like the Brilliant, scorn each borrow'd aid,And deck'd with native lustre NEVER FADE! Back to Timeline

12. Truth is Stranger than Fiction • Her second child, Sophia, died when only a few months old. • She began acting again and was quickly commanded to perform for royalty. • Once her husband fully abandoned her she had an (almost) year long affair with the Prince of Wales. • This affair ruined her reputation and eventually all of her possessions were seized to pay outstanding debts. • Later she became romantically involved with her body guard, Lord Malden. • Lord Malden and a poor army officer, Banastre Tarleton, placed a bet that Mary would stay true to Lord Malden if Tarleton tried to seduce her. Tarleton won the bet, and he and Mary stayed together for 15 years. Back to the Timeline

13. Dame Edith SitwellBack to the Tremendous Trio

14. Eccentric “I am an unpopular electric eel in a pool of catfish.” • Born September 7th 1887 • Stated in her autobiography that she felt as though her parents were strangers to her; to the point that when her mother died in 1937 she did not attend the funeral. • Her critics argued that she hung onto old technique and style. Robert K. Martin stated that Façade, “was often treated as if it were the only work she had ever written.” • Façade was utilized in a screen play and the Dame recalls an old woman waiting for her after the first production to beat her with an umbrella. • Met Marylin Monroe, and defended her character in televised interviews. Back to Timeline Back to Timeline

15. Still Falls the Rain by Dame Edith Sitwell Still falls the Rain---Dark as the world of man, black as our loss---Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nailsUpon the Cross.Still falls the RainWith a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammer-beatIn the Potter's Field, and the sound of the impious feetOn the Tomb:Still falls the RainIn the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brainNurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.Still falls the RainAt the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross.Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us---On Dives and on Lazarus:Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.Still falls the Rain---Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man's wounded Side:He bears in His Heart all wounds,---those of the light that died,The last faint sparkIn the self-murdered heart, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark,The wounds of the baited bear---The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beatOn his helpless flesh... the tears of the hunted hare.Still falls the Rain---Then--- O Ile leape up to my God: who pulles me doune---See, see where Christ's blood streames in the firmament:It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the treeDeep to the dying, to the thirsting heartThat holds the fires of the world,---dark-smirched with painAs Caesar's laurel crown.Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of manWas once a child who among beasts has lain---"Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee." Back to Timeline

16. Committed to Sound • Many of Dame Edith’s poems were set to music because of her style that focused on the sounds of language. Bells of gray crystalBreak on each bough--The swans' breath will mist allThe cold airs now.Like tall pagodasTwo people go,Trail their long codasOf talk through the snow.Lonely are theseAnd lonely and I ....The clouds, gray Chinese geeseSleek through the sky. Back to Timeline

17. Activist • “Dame Edith Sitwell needs to be remembered not only as the bright young parodist of Facade, but as the angry chronicler of social injustice, as a poet who has found forms adequate to the atomic age and its horrors, and as a foremost poet of love. Her work displays enormous range of subject and of form”(Poetry Foundation) • She wrote several poems during WWII one of which was called, “Still Falls the Rain”. • Later in her life she participated in several TV documentaries and series. Back to Timeline

18. Resources • https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/ • www.poetryfoundation.org • http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/robinson/biography.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/edith-sitwell • http://www.biography.com/people/edith-sitwell-9485344 • Back to Beginning