The Poems of Celia Thaxter

Introduction by Jane E. Vallier

This title is out of print

Celia Laighton Thaxter, the most widely published woman writing poetry in America in the last half of the nineteenth century, lived a life of mythic dimensions. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1835, Celia developed into a woman who came to embody all that American women of her time could hope to achieve without the support of wealth, position, or even good fortune. Her life was a triumph of the human spirit over adversity, of courage over despair.

She grew up on the Isles of Shoals, off the coast from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, spending an idyllic childhood playing with her two brothers along the rocky shore watching the birds and many moods of the ocean. Married at age 16, she moved to the mainland and turned to poetry to express the loss of her beloved islands. With one emotionally disturbed child and a well educated husband who nevertheless failed to provide proper financial support for the family, Celia Thaxter was forced to fend for herself as an adult mother, writing poetry and prose to earn money.

Eventually she returned to spend summers on Appledore Island where her family operated a resort hotel. Here she entertained her friends, some of America's best known writers, poets, musicians, and artists. She died on Appledore in 1894 and two years later her close friend Sarah Orne Jewett edited this, the most complete volume of Thaxter's poetry. The publisher has added other poems and a few short stories to make this comprehensive new edition of the works of Celia Thaxter.

340 pages, paper, ISBN 0-914339-57-5...$20

View Isles of Shoals Photo Gallery

See this beautiful book: One Woman's Work: The Art of Celia Thaxter