Eliza Townsend (June 1788 - January 12, 1854) was a 19th-century American poet. Though she wrote mostly anonymously, she was at the end of her life considered the first U.S. woman poet to receive critical acclaim.

Nicholas Biddle Nicholas Biddle (January 8, 1786February 27, 1844) was an American financier who served as the third and last president of the Second Bank of the United States (chartered 1816–1836). Throughout his life Biddle worked as an editor, diplomat, au ...

said that a prize ode Townsend wrote for ''

The Port Folio ''The Port Folio'' was an American literary and political magazine that was published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1801 to 1827. History and notable features The Port Folio was first co-published in 1801 by Joseph Dennie and Asbury Dicki ...

'' while he was editor of the magazine was, in his opinion, the finest poem of its kind which at that time had been written in the United States. Many of her other pieces received the best approval of the period, but, as she kept her authorship a secret, it did not enhance her personal reputation. In much of her work, there was a religious and poetical dignity, with all the evidences of a fine and richly-cultivated understanding, which entitled her to be ranked among the distinguished literary women who were her contemporaries. Townsend died in 1854.

Early years and education

Eliza Townsend was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, June 1788. Her youth was passed in the troubled times which succeeded the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. She descended from a stock that for two centuries has occupied a distinguished and honorable position in American society.

Career

Townsend sympathized with the feelings which were popular in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, in regard both to U.S. and to foreign affairs, as was shown by her "Occasional Ode", written in June, 1809, in which

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

was denounced with vehemence and power. This poem was first printed in the seventh volume of the ''Monthly Anthology'', and though it bore the marks of hasty composition, in some minute defects, it was altogether a fine piece. She was a contributor of poems to the ''Monthly Anthology'', the ''Unitarian Miscellany'', and ''

'', during the publication of those magazines, and to other periodicals. Her productions were anonymous, and the secret of their authorship was for some time preserved. Among the pieces which she published about this time was "Another Castle in the Air"; "Stanzas commemorative of Charles Brockden Brown"; "Lines on the Burning of the Richmond Theatre"; and a poem to

Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...

, upon the appearance of his "Curse of Kehama". At a later period, she published several poems of a more religious nature. These were elevated in tone, and were written in an animated and harmonious style. They were not numerous, and all were of moderate length. Of these, she was best known by "The Incomprehensibility of God". Of this, the Rev. Dr. George Barrell Cheever remarked, that "it is equal in grandeur to the Thanalopsis of Bryant," and that "it will not suffer by comparison with the most sublime pieces of Wordsworth or of Coleridge." Others included "An Occasional Ode", written in June 1809, and published at the time in the ''Monthly Authology'', in which she commented with severity on the career of

, then at the summit of his career; as well as "Lines to Robert Southey", written in 1812, and "The Rainbow", published in the ''General Repository and Review''.

Personal life

In later life, Townsend did not write for the public in many years. She lived in a secluded manner with her sister, also unmarried, in the old family mansion in Boston. She died at her residence in Boston, January 12, 1854.

References

Attribution

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Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Eliza 1788 births 1854 deaths 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers Poets from Boston American women poets Pseudonymous women writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers