Ellen Sturgis Hooper (February 17, 1812 – November 3, 1848) was an American poet. A member of the

Transcendental Club The Transcendental Club was a group of New England authors, philosophers, socialists, politicians and intellectuals of the early-to-mid-19th century which gave rise to Transcendentalism. Overview Frederic Henry Hedge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Georg ...

, she was widely regarded as one of the most gifted poets among the

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 ...

Transcendentalists Transcendentalism is a philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the New England region of the United States. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of ...

. Her work is occasionally reprinted in

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

. She was, besides, sister of

Caroline Sturgis Tappan Caroline Sturgis Tappan (August 30, 1818 – October 20, 1888), commonly known as Caroline Sturgis, or "Cary" Sturgis, was an Transcendentalism, American Transcendentalist poet and artist. She is particularly known for her friendships and frequent ...

, also a Transcendentalist and poet, as well as an acquaintance of

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarianism, Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theolo ...

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

, and

Henry James, Sr. Henry James Sr. (June 3, 1811December 18, 1882) was an American Theology, theologian and the father of the philosopher William James, the novelist Henry James, and the diarist Alice James. Following a dramatic moment of spiritual enlightenment ...

Biographical Note in th
Sturgis-Tappan Family Papers, 1812-1982
, Five College Archives & Manuscript Collection, retrieved 22 July 2008

Biography

Ellen Sturgis 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 ...

, the daughter of

William Sturgis William Sturgis (February 25, 1782 – October 21, 1863) was a Boston merchant in the China trade, the California hide trade and the maritime fur trade. Early life Sturgis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, to Hannah Mills and William ...

and Elizabeth M. Davis. Her father was a wealthy Boston merchant. Her mother was an intelligent and independent woman who spent much time away from her husband, inspiring in her daughter the idea to seek self-fulfillment.de Rocher, Cecile Anne. "Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1812–1848)" in ''Writers of the American Renaissance: An A–to–Z Guide'' (Denise D. Knight, editor). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003: 203. In 1837, she married physician Robert William Hooper, though her friends said they were not a good match because he was intellectually inferior.

, for example, said the match was like "perfume... wasted on the desert wind". The couple had three children: Ellen Sturgis "Nella" Hooper (1838–1887), who married professor Ephraim Whitman Gurney (1829–1886), Edward William "Ned" Hooper (1839–1901), and Marian "Clover" Hooper, who married

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

and became a celebrated

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, hostess and photographer. Hooper's poetry was regularly commissioned by

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

and published in ''

The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review an ...

''. Her poems also appeared in

Elizabeth Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic d ...

's ''Æsthetic Papers'' (1849), and the final

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

s of one of her poems, ''The Wood-Fire'', appear in

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...

's ''

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...

'' (1854). Hooper died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

at age 36. Her early death is said to have "enshrined her in the memories of her associates as a Transcendental angel".Ellen Sturgis Hooper, 1812-1848
American Transcendentalism Web, Virginia Commonwealth University, retrieved 22 July 2008

References

External links

''FemBio''Ellen Sturgis Hooper
at the Walden Woods Project * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Ellen Sturgis 1812 births 1848 deaths American women poets 19th-century American women writers Members of the Transcendental Club Poets from Boston 19th-century American poets Sturgis family

Biography

See also

References

External links