Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865) was the most widely read and respected pre-Civil War American woman poet in the English-speaking world. In a half-century career, Sigourney produced a wide range of poetry and prose envisaging the United States as a new kind of republic with a unique mission in history, in which women like herself had a central role. This edition contributes to the current recovery of Sigourney and her republican vision from the oblivion into which they were cast by the aftermath of the Civil War, the construction of a male-dominated American "national" literary canon, and the aesthetics of Modernism.

A representative selection of poetry and prose from across her career illustrates her national vision and the diversity of forms she used to promote it. In the appendices, letters and documents illustrate her challenges and working methods in what she called her "kitchen in Parnassus."

Gary Kelly is Professor of English and Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta. He is the editor of the Broadview Editions of Felicia Hemans: Selected Poems, Prose, and Letters and Sarah Scott's Milennium Hall.

Academics please note that this is a title classified as having a restricted allocation of complimentary copies. While the availability of bound complimentary copies is restricted to desk copies only, electronic complimentary copies are readily available for those professors wishing to consider this title for possible course adoption. Should you choose to adopt the book after viewing an electronic copy we will be happy to provide a bound desk copy.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Lydia Sigourney: A Brief Chronology

A Note on the Text

Lydia Sigourney: Selected Poetry and Prose

1. From Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse (1815)
2. From The Square Table (1819)
3. From Traits of the Aborigines of America (1822)
4. From Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since (1824)
5. From Poems (1827)
6. From The Token (1833)
7. From How to Be Happy (1833)
8. From Letters to Young Ladies (1833)
9. From Sketches (1834)
10. From American Annals of Education (1834)
11. From Poetry for Children (1834)
12. From Poems (1834)
13. From Tales and Essays for Children (1835)
14. From Zinzendorff, and Other Poems (1835)
15. From Olive Buds (1836)
16. From Select Poems (1838)
17. From Letters to Mothers (1838)
18. From The Works of Mrs. Hemans (1840)
19. From Pocahontas, and Other Poems (1841)
20. From Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands (1842)
21. From Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands (1844)
22. From Poetry for Seamen (1845)
23. From Scenes in My Native Land (1845)
24. From Myrtis: with Other Etchings and Sketchings (1846)
25. From Water-Drops (1848)
26. From Illustrated Poems (1849)
27. From The Ladies' Wreath (1851)
28. From The Ladies' Repository (1854)
29. From The Western Home, and Other Poems (1854)    
30. From Past Meridian (1854),: Ch. XVII
31. From Sayings of the Little Ones, and Poems for Their Mothers (1855)    
32. From Gleanings (1860)    
33. From Selections from Various Sources (1862)
34. From Letters of Life (1866)
    

Appendix A: Letters and Manuscripts

Appendix B: Views and Reviews