Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney

Timeline

Timeline

• Born- Sept. 1st, 1791 (Norton)
• Meets Alice Cogswell- 1814 (Sayers & Moore)
• Est. Hartford School for Girls- 1814 (Norton)
• Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse- 1815 (Norton)
• Marries Charles Sigourney- 1819 (Norton)
• After financial crisis, Sigourney begins to use her writings to support her family- 1820s (Norton)
• Charles dies- 1854 (Norton)
• Dies- June 10,1865 (Norton)

Most Famous Works

Sigourney is known to have written over 50 books and as many as 2000 articles

Famous Works

• Letters to Young Ladies- 1833 (Norton)
• Poems- 1834 (Norton)
• Traits of the Aborigines- 1822 (Norton)
• Pocahontas and Other Poems- 1841 (Norton)
• "Death of an Infant" - from Poems, 1827 (Norton)
• "To The First Slave Ship"- from Poems, 1827 (Norton)

Romanticism

Sentimentalism

According to a series of online sites, including Britannica, the Conneticut Women's Hall of Fame, and the New England Historical Society, Mrs. Sigourney established herself as the "first female poet with a distinctly American voice". She is also known for being one of the first American women with a successful literary career.

"The Sweet Singer of Hartford"

In consideration of the time period and the sheer amount of production Sigourney had, many say that she essentially pioneered the sentimental poetry characteristic of women writers in America at the time.

Pioneer of Sentimentalist Poetry

Sigourney was a socially active supporter of expanding women's rights and native American rights, going so far as to submit multiple petitions to congress regarding the native American antiremoval campaign, leading America in the involvement of women in politics (Miles).

As well, Sigourney's general activity on the literary plane inspired other female writers to emerge, in which it is thought that Emily Dickinson was heavily influenced (Norton).

Inspiring the Next Generation

Edgar Allen Poe

"Edgar Allan Poe probed Sigourney's popularity. Authors put their 'name[s] in the mouths of people' in one of two ways, Poe announced: they publish great works, or they manufacture celebrity by 'questionable means.' While he stopped short of accusing Sigourney of chicanery, Poe declared that she had written nothing that 'would fairly entitle her to that exalted rank which she actually enjoys as the authoress'" (Teed).

According to the New England Historical Society...

Mark Twain

"Twain had Mrs. Sigourney in mind when he created the Huckleberry Finn character Emeline Grangerford, who wrote treacly funeral verses."

"Fellow Hartfordite Mark Twain complained ‘bad grammar and slovenly English’ flowed from her pen."

The Good, the Bad, and the Modern Viewpoint

Modern Viewpoints

Some groups find her gender focused writings to be indicative of lack of involvement in feminism, whereas other groups agree that this focus was more to satisfy her husband, who was not fond of her writings.

There have also been arguments that in her anti-slavery campaigns, she was fond of the 'Back-to-Africa movement, which no substantial evidence could be found for.

Native Americans

Mrs. Sigourney wrote extensively on the topic of Native Americans, owning to her advocacy of the anti-removal campaign. She even wrote petitions to congress to pronounce her alignment on the topic. In general, her focus on this topic was a sad longing for the rapidly disappearing native tribes of America.

Native Americans

Works:

"Indian Names" from Poems, 1834 (Norton)

"Our Aborigines" from Select Poems, 1838 (Norton)

"Traits of the Aborigines" 1822 (Miles)

Slavery

"At some risk to her career, she wrote anti-slavery poetry well before abolition became a popular movement in New England" (Norton).

Sigourney writes about this topic, particularly in her poem "Slavery", as though slavery in general was a practice that brought down the very value of America. She relies on heavy contrasts between the dark stain of slavery and what could be a beautiful bright America.

Slavery

Works:

"To the First Slave Ship" From Poems, 1827 (Norton)

"Slavery" From Poems, 1834 (Norton)

Death

In her poem, "Death of an Infant" (one of her most popular short works), Sigourney personifies death and softens it as a character while upholding a harsh and indifferent demeanor. She also touches on death in her poem, "Two Old Women", as well as in some of her poems on Slavery and Native Americans.

Death

Other Themes

Mrs. Sigourney addresses several other themes throughout her expansive amount of work, including Deforestation and American Expansion, Immigration, Poverty, Aging, and Feminism.

Other Themes

Works:

"Fallen Forests" from The Western Home, and Other Poems, 1854 (Norton)

"Erin's Daughter" from The Western Home, and Other Poems, 1854 (Norton)

"Two Old Women" from Gleanings, 1860 (Norton)

"The Western Immigrant" from Illustrated Poems, 1849 (Poetry Foundation)

Our

Aborigines

Then in the zephyr’s voice replied

Those vales, so meekly blest:

“They reared their dwellings on our side,

Their corn upon our breast;

A blight came down, a blast swept by,

The cone-roofed cabins fell;

And where that exiled people fled,

It is not ours to tell.”

Our

Aborigines

"Niagara, of the mountains gray,

Demanded, from his throne,

And old Ontario’s billowy lake

Prolonged the thunder tone,

“The chieftains at our side who stood

Upon our christening day,

Who gave the glorious names we bear,

Our sponsors, where are they?”

Our

Aborigines

"And then the fair Ohio charged

Her many sisters dear,

“Show me once more those stately forms

Within my mirror clear”;

But they replied, “Tall barks of pride

Do cleave our waters blue,

And strong keels ride our farthest tide,

But where ’s their light canoe?”

"The farmer drove his ploughshare deep;

“Whose bones are these?” said he.

“I find them where my browsing sheep

Roam o’er the upland lea.”

But starting sudden to his path,

A phantom seemed to glide,

A plume of feathers on his head,

A quiver at his side."

Our

Aborigines

Our

Aborigines

"He pointed to the rifled grave,

Then raised his hand on high,

And with a hollow groan invoked

The vengeance of the sky.

O’er the broad realm so long his own,

Gazed with despairing ray,

Then on the mist that slowly curled,

Fled mournfully away."

Analysis

Summary

This poem depicts a seemingly chronological dialogue between several aspects of nature and the narrator, discussing the disappearance of the native Americans. The forests, the wind, Niagra, Ontario, and Ohio all 'wonder' where the natives went, noting that their tepees had been knocked over and the people exiled to someplace else. Then, a farmer finds the bones of a native American in his plot and the spirit of a tribesman appears, invoking "the vengance of the sky" before receeding into the mist.

Theme, Tone, Point-of-View, Rhyme Scheme

Tone: the tone of this poem appears to be rooted in nostalgia and confusion.

The theme of this work is focused on Native Americans, particularly their impact and absence in America.

this poem exhibits first person point-of-view, but the majority of the body keeps a 3rd-person-omniscient perspective.

The rhyme scheme is not constant and varies between every other stanza. For example, in the first stanza, the rhyme scheme is ABCBCDED. In the fourth, it's: ABCBDEDE. The poem appears to be free-verse, yet it still has a rythmic, almost lyrical flow.

Figurative Language and Symbolism

Sigourney uses a number of literary devices in order to convey her message and tone to readers, such as allusion (to create a sense of familiarity and connection), imagery, personification, and repetition (the recurring question- "where are they?" as though a child missing their parent).

The presence of symbolism is mainly in the personification of several aspects of natural America as they long for the native tribes that have been destroyed or relocated. This represents the deep and obvious impact natives have made in the development and care of land, as well as the pressing feeling of unbalance and wrongness in their absence.

Works Cited, Cont'd.

Works Cited, Continued

• Miles, Tiya. "'Circular Reasoning': Recentering Cherokee Women in the Antiremoval Campaigns." American Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. 221-243,424. ProQuest, nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/223313956?accountid=9768. Accessed 24 Nov. 2018.

• “Mrs. Sigourney, Hartford’s High Priestess of Bad Poetry.” New England Historical Society, Wordpress Inc., www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/mrs-sigourney-hartfords-high-priestess-of-bad-poetry/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2018.

• Mrs. Sigourney in Hartford: Poems and Prose on the Early American Deaf Community, edited by Edna Edith Sayers, and Diana Moore, Gallaudet University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brunswickcc-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4860694. Accessed 24 Nov. 2018.

• Samuels, Shirley. "Sentimentalism and Domestic Fiction." Igbo - African Studies - Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford Bibliographies, 29 Aug. 2012, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0015.xml. Accessed 24 Nov. 2018.

• Teed, Melissa L. "A Passion for Distinction: Lydia Huntley Sigourney and the Creation of a Literary Reputation." The New England Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 1, 2004, pp. 51-69. ProQuest, nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/215298645?accountid=9768. Accessed 24 Nov. 2018.