Gender and the Poetics of Reception in Poe's Circle

Cambridge University Press 0521832810 - Gender and the Poetics of Reception in Poe’s Circle Eliza Richards Frontmatter More information

GENDER AND THE POETICS OF RECEPTION IN POE’S CIRCLE

Poe is frequently portrayed as an isolated idiosyncratic genius who was unwilling or unable to adapt himself to the cultural conditions of his time. Eliza Richards revises this portrayal through an exploration of his collaborations and rivalries with his female contemporaries. Richards demonstrates that he staged his performance of tortured isolation in the salons and ephemeral publications of New York City in conjunction with prominent women poets whose work he both emulated and sought to surpass. She introduces and interprets the work of three important and largely forgotten women poets: Frances Sargent Osgood, Sarah Helen Whitman, and Elizabeth Oakes Smith. Richards re-evaluates the work of these writers, and of nineteenth- century lyric practices more generally, by examining poems in the context of their circulation and reception within nineteenth-century print culture. This book will be of interest to scholars of American print culture as well as specialists of nineteenth-century literature and poetry.

Eliza Richards is Assistant Professor of English at Boston Uni- versity. She has published essays in Arizona Quarterly, The Yale Journal of Criticism, and Poe Studies.

cambridge studies in american literature and culture

Editor Ross Posnock, New York University Founding editor Albert Gelpi, Stanford University Advisory board Sacvan Bercovitch, Harvard University Ronald Bush, St. John’s College, Oxford University Wai Chee Dimock, Yale University Albert Gelpi, Stanford University Gordon Hutner, University of Kentucky Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois, Chicago Kenneth Warren, University of Chicago

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GENDER AND THE POETICS OF RECEPTION IN POE’S CIRCLE

ELIZA RICHARDS Boston University

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C Eliza Richards 2004

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First published 2004

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In memory of Ann, and for Raul.´

Helen thy beauty is to me Like those Niceanbarksofyore...´ Poe, “To Helen” The face was my lover’s face. Do you know those white, water- lily magnolias? I suppose I thought the words he said. He said “Helen thy beauty.” Is poetry enchantment? Have people forgotten what poetry is? H. D., Paint it Today

Contents

List of illustrations page x Acknowledgments xii Note on texts used xv List of abbreviations xvi

Introduction 1 1 “The Poetess” and Poe’s performance of the feminine 28 2 Frances Sargent Osgood, salon poetry, and the erotic voice of print 60 3 Sarah Helen Whitman, spiritualist poetics, and the “phantom voice” of Poe 107 4 Elizabeth Oakes Smith’s “unspeakable eloquence” 149 Coda: the Raven’s return 191

Notes 199 Select bibliography 221 Index 231

Illustrations

1 “The Soiree.”´ Godey’s Lady’s Book, vol. 30 (January–June 1845). Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society. page 8 2 “I’ve Thought of Something.” The Literary Emporium: A Compendium of Religious, Literary, and Philosophical Knowledge (NY: J. K. Wellman, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 12 3 Title page, Graham’s Magazine, vol. 21 (1842). Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society. 13 4 Title page, Poems by Frances Sargent Osgood. Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society. 61 5 “Frances S. Osgood,” Frontispiece, American Female Poets, Ed. Caroline May (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1848). Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society. 63 6 “Contributors to Graham’s Magazine,” Frontispiece, Graham’s Magazine, vol. 22 (January 1843). Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society. 78 7 “A Presentation at a Literary Soiree,”´ Broadway Journal (April 12, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 95 8 “Love’s Reply,” by Frances S. Osgood; “Spring,” by Violet Vane (nee´ Frances Osgood). Broadway Journal (April 12, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 97 9 “Slander,” by Frances S. Osgood; “William Wilson,” by E. A. Poe. Broadway Journal (August 30, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 98 10 “Echo Song,” by Frances S. Osgood; “Why the Little Frenchman Wears His Hand in a Sling,” by E. A. Poe. Broadway Journal (September 6, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 100

List of illustrations xi 11 “To ,” by Frances S. Osgood. Broadway Journal (November 22, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 101 12 Frances Sargent Osgood, “To ,” Broadway Journal (November 29, 1845). Courtesy, Brown University Library. 103 13 Photograph depicting Sarah Helen Whitman as a medium. Courtesy, Brown University Library. 112

Acknowledgments

I’m as sorry as I am certain that I cannot name all those who have provided myriad forms of support over the years it has taken to write a dissertation and transform it into this book. I’m indebted to all my teachers at the University of Michigan, and especially to the members of my dissertation commit- tee for their careful attention to this project in its earlier stages. Carroll Smith-Rosenberg graciously agreed to sign on late in the process, asked important questions about methodology and scope, and offered important research suggestions. David Scobey read chapter drafts with the fullest enthusiasm and unstintingly shared his historical expertise. Julie Ellison’s innovative intellectual energy was positively contagious; she encouraged me to pursue promising, unlikely lines of inquiry. Rei Terada’s insightful, challenging marginal meditations initiated an ongoing conversation that has immeasurably beneﬁted both me and my work. Kerry Larson’s wise, rigorous mentoring began long before he agreed to direct my dissertation; his standards of excellence have continued to serve as my benchmark for the value and integrity of academic labor. My Americanist reading group at the University of Michigan – Maria Bergstrom, Alix Casteel, Mike Niklaus, Dottie Webb, and David Westbrook – provided a lively forum for discussing chapter drafts. Yopie Prins’ intellectual generosity has inspired me and sustained my work. Susan Rosenbaum has helped unfailingly at crucial moments, offering clear and concise evaluations of my writing, often under demanding time constraints. The readers at Cambridge University Press, anonymous at the time but now revealed to me as Caroline Levander and Virginia Jackson, offered thought- ful, incisive suggestions that have made this a better book. For reading and discussing work in progress and offering valuable criticism, my thanks go to David Anthony, Paula Bennett, Bill Brown, Bonnie Costello, Bridget Ford, Susan Stanford Friedman (especially for drawing my attention to H. D.’s Poe dream), Teresa Goddu, June Howard, Mary Kelley, Janice Knight, Laura Korobkin, Mary Loeffelholz, Chris Lukasik, Jack Matthews, xii

Acknowledgments xiii Meredith McGill, Susan Mizruchi, Jolynn Parker, Anita Patterson, Adela Pinch, Christopher Ricks, John Paul Riquelme, Karen Sanchez-Eppler,` Jani Scandura, Jim Sidbury, Patricia Meyer Spacks, and Nick Yablon. I beneﬁted from the discussions of chapters at the University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities, the University of Chicago’s Early American Seminar, the 1997 graduate seminar on nineteenth-century women’s poetry at the University of Michigan, and Boston University’s Humanities Founda- tion; thanks to all participants. The Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers Group has provided a congenial setting for exchanging ideas with other feminist scholars; I am grateful to all who have attended our gatherings over the years. My thanks go also to the talented undergraduate students in my poetry classes at Boston University; my ideas have developed in dialogue with them. The faculty in the English Department at Boston University have sup- ported the development of my work, and I’m grateful for their warm colle- giality. For their extraordinary generosity, I’d particularly like to thank Bill Carroll, Bonnie Costello, Laura Korobkin, Chris Lukasik, Jack Matthews, Jim Siemon, and James Winn. I’m also grateful for Dean Susan Jackson’s enthusiastic support. I had the pleasure and privilege of spending the 2002– 2003 academic year at the American Antiquarian Society on a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. The release from teaching helped me to complete the revisions on Gender and the poetics of reception in Poe’s circle even while I was conducting research on my next project. I’m grateful for the fellowship of Karsten Fitz, Bridget Ford, Bob Gross, Jim Sidbury, and Nick Yablon; thanks also to Heike Fitz, Sarah Fitz, and Caroline Sloat. A number of institutions have generously provided funding for research and writing. A Mellon Foundation Dissertation Grant provided a much- needed year of support. The Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan provided a semester of support as well as grants for travel to archives. I beneﬁted greatly from the year I spent as a Graduate Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities. Warm thanks go to the Institute’s helpful staff: Betsy Nisbet, Linnea Perlman, Mary Price, and Eliza Woodford. As a Harper-Schmidt Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, I worked with gifted undergraduates and was afforded sub- stantial time and resources to pursue my scholarship. Boston University’s Humanities Foundation provided a semester’s release from teaching at a crucial time. This book could not have been written without access to archival materials at several institutions. I am indebted to the following libraries for

xiv Acknowledgments permission to quote from their holdings: the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia; the Houghton Library at Harvard University; the John Hay Library at Brown University; the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana, Bloomington; and the New York Public Library. Thanks to Brown University and to the American Antiquarian Society for their kind permission to reproduce images from their holdings as illustrations. I am grateful for the expert help of Mark Brown and Jean Rainwater at the John Hay Library. At the American Antiquarian Society, Joanne Chaison, Tom Knowles, Marie Lamoureux, and Jennifer Moore provided generous help as I was working on the ﬁnal stages of manuscript preparation. Portions of chapter 1 were published in an earlier version as “‘The Poetess’ and Poe’s Performance of the Feminine” in Arizona Quarterly 55: 2 (Summer 1999). A portion of chapter 3 was published in an earlier version as “Lyric Telegraphy: Women Poets, Spiritualist Poetics, and the ‘Phantom Voice’ of Poe” in The Yale Journal of Criticism 12: 2 (1999); I’m grateful to these journals for their permission to reprint materials here. My mother, Ann Forbes Greenough Richards, generously helped me to pursue goals that were not as readily available to her; she died before she could see the completion of the project. Raul´ Miguel Aguilar provided loving support and understanding through every stage of the process; I dedicate this book to them.

Note on texts used

I have done my best to track down the full citations for newspaper and magazine clippings that I ﬁrst encountered in library special collections. Occasionally, however, I was unable to locate the clipping’s source; in these cases, I give as much information as possible.

Abbreviations

Books AWP American Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Cheryl Walker (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1992). CW The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe. 17 volumes. Ed. James Harrison, 1902. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1965. CWP The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. T. O. Mabbott. Vol. I. Poems (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969). EAP Kenneth Silverman, Edgar A. Poe: A Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance (London: Weidenfeld, 1993). EPC Sarah Helen Whitman, Edgar Poe and His Critics. 1860 (Reprint, New York: Gordian Press, 1981). ER Edgar Allan Poe, Essays and Reviews (Library of America, 1984). FSOP Frances Sargent Osgood, Poems (Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1850). HL A Human Life: Being the Autobiography of Elizabeth Oakes Smith. A Critical Edition and Introduction. Ed. Leigh Kirkland (Ph.D. Diss. Georgia State University, 1994). LL Laurel Leaves. Ed. Mary Hewitt (New York: Lamport, Blakeman and Law, 1854). PH Caroline Ticknor, Poe’s Helen (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1916). PHR Poe’s Helen Remembers. Ed. John Carl Miller (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979). PIL Lizzie Doten, Poems From the Inner Life (Boston: William White and Co., 1864). PL The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe, 1809–1849 (Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1987).

xvi

List of abbreviations xvii PW The Poetical Writings of Elizabeth Oakes Smith (NY: J. S. Redﬁeld, 1845). RWE Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. Richard Poirier (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). SHWP Sarah Helen Whitman, Poems (Boston: Houghton, Osgood, and Co., 1979). SP John Grier Varner, Sarah Helen Whitman: Seeress of Providence (Ph.D. Diss. University of Virginia, 1940).

Archives Alderman Elizabeth Oakes Smith Papers (308–707), Manuscripts Department, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Brown Sarah Helen Whitman Papers (MS 79.11), Harris Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University. Houghton Frances Sargent Osgood Papers (54m-222). Manuscript Collections, Houghton Library, Harvard University. Lilly Sarah Helen Whitman Papers, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. NYPL The Elizabeth Oakes Smith Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, New York Public Library.