Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and DiaryAddison, Daniel Dulany
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Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary
Addison, Daniel Dulany
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Larcom, Lucy, 1824-1893
The delicate and spiritual nature of womanhood, too, with its heroism,
breathed through all she wrote. Everything she touched glowed with
the light of purity. Her aim was to uplift and sweeten life, by a
revelation of its true meaning. Her measures are choice; her passion
is genuine; her verses sincere; and the _morale_ of them is always
elevating.
Our literature is not rich in women poets of the highest genius, but
there are many who have sung true songs. Maria Lowell was permitted to
give us a few notes only of her chaste singing. The Cary sisters, Mrs.
Cook, Mrs. Greenough, and Helen Hunt Jackson, and many who now enliven
our magazines, have done genuine work; but one often looks in vain for
the power that distinguished Miss Larcom. Considering the range of
the versification, the music of the lines, the strength of phrase and
beauty of metaphor, and lofty moral intensity of her poetry, it is not
claiming too much to say that it exhibits a genius as versatile and as
rich in its utterance as that of any of her female contemporaries, and
considering the impression that she has made upon the people, at their
firesides and in their worship, she holds a place, equal to any, in
their hearts.
Her poems have been recognized in many collections in our land and in
England. Mr. Longfellow in his “Poems of Places” has remembered her.
She is honored in Emerson’s “Parnassus;” one of her hymns is included
in Dr. Martineau’s “Hymns of the Spirit;” she has been given a place,
by Mr. Garrett Horder, in “A Treasury of Sacred Song from American
Sources;” by Mr. Higginson, in “American Sonnets;” by Mr. Richard Grant
White, in “The Poetry of the Rebellion;” and by Mr. W. M. Rossetti, in
his “English Selections from Popular Poets.”
The following letter to Dr. John Hunter of Glasgow shows that she
enjoyed this recognition of her work:--
BEVERLY, MASS., July 10, 1890.
DEAR SIR,--A friend gave me your “Hymns of Faith and Life,” in the
winter, telling me she had found one or two of mine in it. On looking
it over, I find five, not all of which are credited to me, though
all are included in the Household Edition of my poems, published
by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. I thought you would like to know the
authorship, and therefore write.
Of course I am gratified to know that my hymns were taken on their own
merit apparently, and I am glad if anything I have written is a natural
expression of sincere worship for other hearts and voices than my own.
Truly yours,
LUCY LARCOM.
The two following letters illustrate how Dr. Holmes and Mr. Longfellow
appreciated Miss Larcom’s work.
296 BEACON STREET, November 17, 1880.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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