Tag Archives: Robert Browning

…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents–Edward Oliver Wolcott (1848–1905)

Posted on by
Reply

Wolcott

Edward Oliver Wolcott was a prominent politician during the 1890s, serving as senator from Colorado from 1879 until 1882. His biographer, Thomas Fulton Dawson, observed that Wolcott had an overwhelming personality and “whatever he did, good or bad, he did on an unusual scale.” The last year of his life he traveled in Italy, hoping that a change of climate would aid his failing health, but he died in Monaco in 1905.

Wolcott-letter-3webWolcott letter-1Letter from Robert Browning to Edward Oliver Wolcott.
28 February 1887.

In this letter Browning thanks Wolcott for a “generous and beautiful gift” delivered to him by Joseph Charles Parkinson, journalist, civil servant, and social reformer. The gift, according to a letter from Wolcott to Browning on 13 January 1887, was a set of photographs of the Rocky Mountains and the Taos Indians.

…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents–Susan Howard

Posted on by
Reply

The Armstrong Browning Library owns a small album of manuscripts, letters, and printed items that contains memorials to Annie Howard, daughter of Susan and John Tasker Howard.  Annie died unexpectedly in Milan on 6 June 6 1860. The Howards, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the Brownings had shared acquaintances in Italy during that period. The tributes in the album were written by three well-known nineteenth-century figures—the anti-slavery preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, his novelist sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and poet Elizabeth Barret Browning. The album contains two letters from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Annie’s mother Susan and a copy of Barrett Browning’s “De Profundis,” written twenty years earlier following the drowning death of her dear brother, Edward. Stowe contributed a poem commemorating Annie to the album and a copy of Henry Ward Beecher’s funeral sermon was also included in the memorial album.

Memory-of-Annieweb Harriet Beecher Stowe. “To the Memory of Annie, who died at Milan June 6. 1860.” In the Annie Howard Memorial Album. Autograph Manuscript. [1860].

The two letters from Elizabeth Barrett Browning are beautiful expressions of condolences on the death of Annie.

EBB-to-Howard-2-1EBB-to-Howard-2-2EBB-to-Howard-2-3EBB-to-Howard-2-4Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Susan Howard. 14 August [1860].

Excerpts from the letter:

Villa Alberti, Siena—                                    August 14—

My dear Mrs Howard

I receive your letter, read it, hold it in my hands, with a sympathy  deeply moved. . . . Hearing of such things makes us silent before God. What must it be to experience them?—I have suffered myself very heavy afflictions, but the affliction of the mother I have not suffered, & I shut my eyes to the image of it—.

Only, where Christ brings His cross He brings his presence—& where He is, none are desolate—& there is no room for despair. At the darkest you have felt a Hand through the Dark—closer perhaps, & tenderer, than any touch dreamt of at noon. As He knows His own, so He knows how to comfort them—using sometimes  the very grief itself, & straining it to the sweetness of a peace unattainable to those ignorant of any grief—

. . . we write in most affectionate sympathy with you .. & your husband, .. may I add, while I sign this letter as your true friend

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

EBB-to-Howard-1-1EBB-to-Howard-1-2EBB-to-Howard-1-3EBB-to-Howard-1-4

Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Susan Howard. 12 March [1861].

Elizabeth, who had just lost her sister, Henrietta, expresses her sympathy for Susan Howard in these excerpts from the letter:

Rome. 126. Via Felice

March 12.

         My dear Mrs Howard, your letter came to me when I was in bitter need of comfort myself—What are we to say to others while our own heart faints? I had been in great anxiety for months, —& then at last came news from England, —& there was no more to fear. . . .

Before then, the pain you expressed & a sermon of Mr Beecher’s had reminded me of an old forgotten m-s. of mine (De Profundis) “written in my earlier manner” (say the critics) & referring to a great grief, —and I sent it for printing in the Independent- That was for you, & not for me—yet by the time it was printed  & came out here, some of it sailed me also thro’ a new trial. How the threads cross! —

. . . Dear Mrs Howard—when the young go away with hands full of unblown roses, who should lament that they did not stay to sit under leafless trees? —Why yearn for them to live to lose daughters?-Let us consider, of all our holy Dead, that the lessons they learn now are not learnt with pangs but easily, while they sit under the eyes of Him who loves them more than we ever could. . . .

Yours in affectionate sympathy
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Annie-S.-HowardwebPhotograph of a painting of Annie S. Howard,

daughter of Susan and John Tasker Howard.

…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents–John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

Posted on by
2

John_Greenleaf_Whittier_webJohn Greenleaf Whittier was an American Quaker poet, associated with the Fireside poets, and a fervent abolitionist. In a letter to Lucy Larcom (1855), he described reading Robert Browning’s Men and Women as “taking a bath among electric eels.”

EBB-to-WhittierwebLetter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning to John Greenleaf Whittier. [20 October 1856].

This letter acknowledges Whittier’s gift to the Brownings of his book The Panorama and Other Poems (1856) and contains a “kind and gratifying word of sympathy” from him. In the letter the Brownings express their gratitude that Whittier has numbered them with his friends.

Whittier-Autogrpah-Album-174s2olThe letter is mounted in an Autograph Book which had belonged to Elizabeth Whittier Pickard, niece of John Greenleaf Whittier. The album also contains letters, notes, and autographs  by Julia  Ward Howe, Edward Everett, John Greenleaf Whittier, Phoebe Cary, U.S. Grant, Alice Cary, Emily  Faithfull,  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Bayard Taylor,  A. Bronson Alcott, Henry W. Longfellow, Daniel  Webster, Celia Thaxter,  William Cullen Bryant, Edward Everett, William Lloyd Garrison, Joaquin Miller, P.T. Barnum, Edward E. Hale, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George and Louis MacDonald, and many others.

The holdings of the Armstrong Browning Library related to John Greenleaf Whittier include over eighty books, fourteen letters, and an album owned by Whittier’s niece.

…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents–James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)

Posted on by
Reply

James_Russell_Lowell,_Brady-Handy_Photograph_Collection-copywebJames Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor and diplomat associated with the Fireside Poets. The Fireside Poets, whose popularity rivaled English poets, used conventional meter, making the poems suitable for family reading by the fireside. Lowell and Elizabeth Barrett Browning corresponded, sharing volumes of poetry and an interest in anti-slavery issues. Later when Lowell visited in England and Europe, letters were exchanged with Robert Browning about their social engagements.

EBB-to-Lowellweb Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning
to James Russell Lowell.
17 December 1846.

The manuscript of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” was originally enclosed with this letter. The manuscript and letter have become separated; and, although the letter is at the ABL, the manuscript of the poem is in the Camellia Collection in London. In the letter Elizabeth Barrett Browning asks Lowell to make allowances for me in remembering that I am only three month’s married, & in the sudden glare of light & happiness, here in Italy, after my long years of imprisonment in sickness & depression, without so much as the hope of this liberty.

Lowell-EBBwebElizabeth Barrett Browning. “Italy—1859—by Lowell.”
Autograph Manuscript. Undated.

This is a fair copy in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s hand of six verses written by James Russell Lowell, published under the title “Villa Franca.”

Lowell-to-Browning-1web

Lowell-to-Browning-2webLetter from James Russell Lowell to Robert Browning.
5 December  1883.

Lowell, living in London at this time, forwards a letter to Browning that has been mistakenly delivered to his address.  He says, I am sorry to say that I opened it without looking at the address. I read no further than ‘My dear Mr. Browning’ & am dying to know the rest. He then asks Browning about the weather in Venice and expresses a desire for Browning to return soon.

Lowell-MsswebJames Russell Lowell. “I asked of Echo: ‘what’s a good advisor?’” Autograph Manuscript. No date.

This poem, written on the back of an envelope, has never been published.

The Armstrong Browning Library’s holdings related to James Russell Lowell include over seventy books, sixteen letters, one Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript of Lowell’s poems, and one previously unpublished poem by Lowell. The ABL also has three Robert Browning titles that belonged to Lowell.—Pacchiarotto and How He Worked in Distemper, with Other Poems, The Ring and the Book, and Sordello.

 

…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents

Posted on by
1

         from America-Brownings' Amer.Corr.The cataracts and mountains you speak of have been, are, mighty dreams to me—and the great people which, proportionate to that scenery, is springing up in their midst to fill a yet vaster futurity, is dearer to me than a dream. America is our brother-land, and though a younger brother, sits already on the teacher’s seat, and expounds the common rights of our humanity. It would be strange indeed if we in England did not love and exult in America—if English poets, of whom I am least if at all, did not receive with peculiar feeling of gratitude and satisfaction the kind welcoming word of American readers. Believe me grateful to America— . . . .

We have one Shakespeare between us—your land and ours—have we not? And one Milton, and now we are waiting for you to give us another. . . .

 You would wonder a good deal—but would do so less if you were aware of the seclusion of my life, when I tell you that I never consciously stood face to face with an American in the whole course of it. I never had any sort of personal acquaintance with an American, man or woman. Therefore you are all dreamed dreams to me “Gentle dreams” I may well account you.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Cornelius Mathews
3 November 1842

In fact, Elizabeth and Robert Browning did meet many Americans face to face. Their American acquaintances included publishers, editors, journalists, poets, novelists, socialites, sculptors, painters, actresses, social activists, and politicians. Although Elizabeth and Robert never traveled to America, they corresponded with these American friends and met many of them socially in their home in Italy and during their stays in England and Europe.

This blog will introduce several of the Americans with whom the Brownings corresponded including:

Katharine DeKay Bronson
Moncure Daniel Conway
Daniel Sargent Curtis
Kate Field
James T. Fields
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Susan Howard
Elizabeth Clementine Kinney
James Russell Lowell
Cornelius Mathews
Hiram and Elizabeth Powers
The William Wetmore Story Family
Harriet Beecher Stowe
John Greenleaf Whittier
Edward Oliver Wolcott

More Literary Allusions in Downton Abbey — Stowe and Byron

Posted on by
1

dowager

There were two more literary allusions in this week’s episode of Downton Abbey, both of which connect to the Brownings.

When Lord Grantham and Mr. Drewe, the son of the recently deceased tenant farmer, are discussing whether or not he will be allowed to remain as a tenant, Lord Grantham says he is no “Simon Legree.” This, of course, is a reference to the cruel slave dealer in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible.

harriet-beecher-stoweThe author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, was one of the many American correspondents of the Brownings. (Soon the Armstrong Browning Library will shortly be featuring an exhibit, “…from America: The Brownings’ American Correspondents.) There are six recorded letters between the Brownings and Harriet Beecher Stowe between 1857 and 1861, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning makes references to Stowe in six more letters. One of these letters is in the collection at the Armstrong Browning Library.

Stowe Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Harriet Beecher Stowe
[?24 March 1860]

Fifteen Harriet Beecher Stowe books are in the ABL’s collection, including a first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Among the books are two volumes of Stowe’s poetry, which are in the digital collection of 19th Century Women Poets. 

The other literary allusion focused on Lord Byron. Lord Grantham is complimented on his rather pithy statement about the past and the future. His dowager mother responds, “It was too good. One thing we don’t want is a poet in the family.” When Isobel Crawley asks if that would be a bad thing, the dowager answers, “The only poet peer I am familiar with is Lord Byron. And I presume we all know how that ended.” The dowager was referring to Byron’s divorce, remarriage, accusations against him of sodomy and incest, his affairs, and his eventual flight from England to Italy. Obviously, his lifestyle was not the sort that the dowager would approve.

The Brownings, however, admirers of Byron’s poetry owned ten copies of Byron’s work, two portraits of the poet, and a copy of Byron’s verses in an unidentified hand.

Robert makes this reference to Byron in a love letter he wrote to Elizabeth Barrett Browning on August 22, 1846:

Ba, Lord Byron is altogether in my affection again .. I have read on to the end, and am quite sure of the great qualities which the last ten or fifteen years had partially obscured- Only a little longer life and all would have been gloriously right again. I read this book of Moore’s [Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: with Notices of His Life by Thomas Moore, 1830] too long ago: but I always retained my first feeling for Byron in many respects .. the interest in the places he had visited, in relics of him: I would at any time have gone to Finchley to see a curl of his hair or one of his gloves, I am sure–while Heaven knows that I could not get up enthusiasm enough to cross the room if at the other end of it all Wordsworth, Coleridge & Southey were condensed into the little china bottle yonder, after the Rosicrucian fashion .. they seem to “have their reward” and want nobody’s love or faith.

Byron 1 Byron2

Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
22 August 1846

Robert Browning’s life offers some parallels to Lord Byron’s and some differences. Although his marriage to EBB was clandestine, he was a devoted and loving husband. He did leave England to live in Italy, but his leaving was not under duress, and he did return to England often and freely.

Notes and Queries:

Could other similarities and differences be found in the lives of these great poets?

Melinda Creech

Literary and Historical Allusions in Downton Abbey, Season 4

Posted on by
2

kiriContinuing to tease out a bond between the historical milieu of Highclere Castle, which is the setting for the PBS drama Downton Abbey, and the real world of Robert Browning, I have found a literary and an historical allusion in Season 4 of Downton Abbey that may provide a tenuous connection to Robert Browning.

Trying to draw Isobel Crawley, mother of recently deceased Matthew Crawley, out of her mourning, Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, quotes the last two lines of Christina Rossetti’s poem, “Remember:”

remember-1

Christina Rossetti. “Remember”
from Goblin Market and Other Poems.  
Cambridge, London: Macmillan and Co., 1862, p. 58

Isobel reminds Dame Crawley that in the poem Christina Rossetti is talking about her own death, not the death of her child.

Robert Browning corresponded with Christina Rossetti. In fact, the Armstrong Browning Library owns a letter written by Christina Rossetti to Robert Browning, dated 21 December 1869, in which she extends an invitation to attend a gathering at her home. “Remember” was published in Goblin Market and Other Poems, which was part of Robert Browning’s library. The frontispiece and vignette title page were illustrated by Christina’s brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who also corresponded with the Brownings. The ABL’s advance copy of this work was sent to Robert Browning by the Rossetti family and remained in his library until his death.

Goblin-Market-1Christina Rossetti. Goblin Market and Other Poems.  
Cambridge, London: Macmillan and Co., 1862.

Also in Episode 1, a famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba, sings “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” a song for voice and piano written in 1880 by Antonín Dvořák. It is the fourth of seven songs from his cycle Gypsy Songs. The English lyrics for the song are:

Songs my mother taught me, In the days long vanished;
Seldom from her eyelids were the teardrops banished.
Now I teach my children, each melodious measure.
Oft the tears are flowing, oft they flow from my memory’s treasure.

Antonín Dvořák, “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” (No. 4 in: Zigeunermelodien, Op. 55),German  words, Adolph Heyduk; English words, Mrs. Natalia Macfarren, Berlin: N. Simrock [1880].

Robert Browning and Antonín Dvořák were contemporaries. According to Musical World, 28 February 1885, the song, which was very popular at the time, was to be performed at St. James Hall that very afternoon. Antonín Dvořák visited England nine times in all, but I have yet to find evidence that their paths crossed.

Dame Nellie Melba, the character portrayed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, is the first historical character to be featured on Downton Abbey. In the episode, she sang Dvorak’s “Songs My Mother Taught Me” and a selection from Puccini. Dame Nellie was a famous performer during Browning’s lifetime. In fact, Melba toast and peach Melba were created in her name by famed chef Auguste Escoffier. Her debut in London at Covent Garden was in May 1888, the year before Browning’s death. She was twenty-seven years old.

Dame-Nellie-Melba-as-Ophelia1_11402134_tcm11-17655Dame Nellie Melba as “Ophelie,” circa 1889.

Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia

Melinda Creech

Notes and Queries: Thus far I have not been able to directly connect Robert Browning to either Dvorak or Dame Nellie. Does anyone know of a connection?

Browning at Downton Abbey: The Rest of the Story

Posted on by
Reply

As the new season of Downton Abbey begins, I thought I should bring you up to date on the discoveries that have resulted from my investigation into Robert Browning’s visits at Highclere Castle.

My curiosity about Browning at Downton Abbey led me to begin a correspondence with David Rymill, archivist for both the Hampshire Record Office and the Highclere Estate. Mr. Rymill’s research revealed that there were three previously unrecorded Browning letters among the Earl of Portsmouth’s archives, a carte de visite of Browning in an album of photographs from Highclere Castle, and four signatures of Robert Browning in the Castle’s guest books.

Among the three letters from Robert Browning are two letters to Lady Portsmouth, Lady Eveline Alicia Juliana Herbert, first daughter of Henry John George [Herbert], 3rd Earl of Carnarvon. She married Isaac Newton Fellowes Wallop, 5th Earl of Portsmouth and became Lady Portsmouth.The other letter is to her daughter, Lady Catherine Henrietta Wallop, who married the Right Honorable Charles George Milnes-Gaskell.

These letters, which are part of the Wallop Papers in the Hampshire Record Office, were provided by the Earl of Portsmouth through David Rymill.

Robert Browning to Lady Portsmouth, 14 May 1877

Courtesy of the Earl of Portsmouth

Robert Browning to Lady Portsmouth, 14 January, 1870

Courtesy of the Earl of Portsmouth

Robert Browning to Lady Catherine, 26 May, 1887

Courtesy of the Earl of Portsmouth

Lord Carnarvon gave permission for Mr. Rymill to send the Armstrong Browning Library scans of Robert Browning’s signatures in the Highclere Castle guestbooks. These occur on December 13, 1869, November 16th and 21st of 1873 and March 10, 1878. This discovery has already helped scholars more accurately date Robert Browning’s chronology.

Highclere Castle Guestbook, 13 December 1869

Courtesy of the Earl of Carnavon, Highclere Castle Archives

Highclere Castle Guestbook, 16 November 1873

Courtesy of the Earl of Carnavon, Highclere Castle Archives

Highclere Castle Guestbook, 21 November 1873

Courtesy of the Earl of Carnavon, Highclere Castle Archives

Highclere Castle Guestbook, 10 March 1878

Courtesy of the Earl of Carnavon, Highclere Castle Archives

A signed photograph of Robert Browning  was also discovered in an album among the castle archives, and a scan was graciously forwarded to the ABL from Lord Carnarvon.

Courtesy of the Earl of Carnavon, Highclere Castle Archives

 I would like to express my sincere thanks to David Rymill. On December 2, Cynthia Burgess, Librarian/Curator of Books and Printed Materials at the Armstrong Browning Library, and Pattie Orr, Vice-President of Information Technology and Dean of University Libraries, Baylor University, were joined by Mr. Rymill as they attended a ceremony at the grave of Robert Browning in Westminster Abbey, commemorating his death on December 12, 1889, one hundred and twenty-four years ago.

Who knows what connections the new season might bring to light?

Melinda Creech

 Notes and Queries:

Can anyone add additional information about the signatures in the guestbooks or the other photographs on the album page?

Commemorating Robert Browning at Westminster Abbey

Posted on by
2

By Cynthia A. Burgess, Librarian/Curator of Books & Printed Materials

December 12, 2013 was the 124th anniversary of the death of Victorian poet Robert Browning.  Although he died in Venice, Italy while visiting his son and daughter-in-law, he was given the great honor of being buried at Poets’ Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey, and his body was interred there on December 31st, the final day of 1889.

On December 2nd I had the privilege of attending the annual service of commemoration at Browning’s grave sponsored by The Browning Society [UK].  For many years a solemn ceremony has been held there and wreaths have been laid on Browning’s grave on or near the date of the poet’s death.  The Armstrong Browning Library has participated in the ceremony for decades, by having a wreath laid on behalf of the Library, and, whenever possible, by having a group in attendance.

Nancy Jackson with a wreath
at Robert Browning’s grave

This year the Armstrong Browning Library’s group included, in addition to me, Pattie Orr, Baylor University’s Vice-President of Information Technology and Dean of University Libraries; Nancy Jackson, Baylor alumna and former chair of the Library Board of Advisors; and Baylor alumna Patty Burgess.  The ABL’s party also included invited guests:  Xenia Dennen, Director of The Keston Institute, and her husband, Ven. Dr. Lyle Dennen, former Archdeacon of Hackney, now Guild Vicar of St. Andrew, Holborn; and David Rymill, Archivist, Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, and archivist to the Highclere Estate.

Dean Pattie Orr and David Rymill in Poets’ Corner at
Westminster Abbey

Following an Evensong service, sung beautifully by the Lay Vicars of Westminster Abbey, approximately 40 Browning admirers and enthusiasts moved quietly from the Abbey’s nave to nearby Poets’ Corner.  There on the floor is a marble slab — a dark brown center framed by pale gold stone, with, simply, Browning’s name and his birth and death dates marking the place of burial.  Browning lies next to Alfred, Lord Tennyson and near Charles Dickens, his contemporaries and friends; at his feet is the grave of Geoffrey Chaucer, and close at hand, the resting places of other great writers — John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy.  Memorial stones on the floor and the walls name others, not buried, but honored there.  On the floor near Browning’s grave is the newest memorial stone, placed in honor of Clive Staples Lewis only weeks ago.

Following a welcome and a prayer, a short address by Dr. Pamela Neville-Sington, the author of biographies of both Robert Browning and Fanny Trollope, revealed the profound influence of Robert Browning’s poetry on the great Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.  Dr. Neville-Sington then placed a wreath on Browning’s grave for The Browning Society, followed by The Reverend Clive Dunnico laying a wreath for The Robert Browning Settlement (a community service organization), and Nancy Jackson laying a wreath decorated with bells and pomegranates for the Armstrong Browning Library.  I was honored to place a wreath for The Friends of Casa Guidi (an organization supporting the care of the Brownings’ home in Florence).

Cynthia Burgess and Nancy Jackon
laying wreaths on Robert Browning’s grave

Final prayers and a blessing ended the brief but moving ceremony.  Robert Browning is still remembered and his poetry valued nearly a century and a quarter after his death.

Giving Nineteenth Century Women Writers a Voice and a Face — Charlotte Endymion Porter (1857-1942)

Posted on by
Reply

Charlotte Endymion Porter, originally named Helen Charlotte Porter, was born on January 6, 1857 in Towanda, Pennsylvania.  Charlotte adopted the middle name Endymion after a poem by John Keats.  In 1885 she graduated from Wells College in Aurora, New York.

Eight years later Porter became the editor of the journal Shakespeariana, where she met her life partner Helen Clarke.  Clarke submitted an article to Shakespeariana and Porter accepted it.  Their friendship was built upon their mutual love for Shakespeare and Robert Browning.

Porter and Clarke also founded the American Drama Society, and together they edited volumes of both Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry. Porter published a theatrical version of Robert Browning’s tragedy, The Return of the Druses, which she directed in 1903. She was one of the brightest literary critics and editors of her time.         Below is a signed copy of Porter’s script, featuring notes in the margin. The notes most likely were written there by a stage manager, as they list props and sound cues.

Charlotte Porter. Stage Version of Browning’s Tragedy: The Return of the Druses. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, 1902.

D. G. Brinton, “Facettes of Love From Browning,” in Poet-Lore, Vol. 1 (1889), pp. 25-26.

 In 1889 Porter and Clarke founded Poet Lore, a literary journal focused on Shakespeare, Browning, and comparative literature.  Their mission in establishing Poet Lore was to “bring Life and Letters into closer touch with each other…in a new spirit that considers literature as an exponent of human evolution.”  Although it was an American journal, it rarely featured any works written by Americans; therefore, it often introduced new writers and works to its American audience.  Poet Lore still exists today and is maintained by five editors who strive to keep the journal at the high standards set by Porter and Clarke emphasizing “openness to discovery” (http://www.writer.org/page.aspx?pid=664).  Poet Lore editor Genevieve DeLeon’s favorite quote from Porter comes from Porter reflecting on Poet Lore several years after its founding:

“Our standards were evolutionary and relative in principal in a day when the static and the has-been rather than the dynamic and coming-into-birth constituted the measure in criticism….We were champions then for what is still needed, it may be the standards that relate all aesthetic expression to evolving life.”

In 1903 Porter and Clarke sold Poet Lore and worked on many other projects together, including several editions of Browning’s poems, a six volume edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry, and a twelve volume “Pembroke” edition of Shakespeare.

Porter and Clarke committed to each other with a ring ceremony and lived together until Clarke died in 1926.  Porter continued living at their summer home in Maine until she passed away on January 16, 1942.  This poem from the first edition of Charlotte Porter’s book, “Lips of Music.” speaks about the island in Maine where she and Clarke spent their summers and where she eventually died at the age of 85.

Charlotte Porter. “Isle Au Hait” in Lips of Music. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell & Company, 1910.

The Armstrong Browning Library has two letters written to Charlotte Porter, six books and articles by Porter, and numerous Browning volumes edited by her.

 Kimberly Dykema
Carly Connally
Melinda Creech