Lydia Howard Sigourney

Born:  Norwich; September 1, 1791
Died:  Hartford; June 10, 1865

Entry by James P. Walsh

The nineteenth century had an insatiable appetite for mawkish poetry, and this appetite was catered to in Connecticut by Lydia Sigourney, the "Sweet Singer of Hartford." The Romantic period was intoxicated with the power of verse, and even the best poets, like Shelley or Wordsworth, often approached the edge of bathos. Lesser poets, like Mrs. Sigourney, knew no limits.

She was born Lydia Huntley, the only child of a handyman for a wealthy widow in Norwich. Her father's employer took a liking to young Lydia and treated her much like a daughter. It was through this connection that she became a frequent guest of the Wadsworth family in Hartford, and the Wadsworths did much to further her literary career. In 1815, Lydia Huntley published her first collection of poems, entitled Moral Pieces. The following lines, describing the Flood, were considered especially good:

            And slowly as its axle turn'd,

            The wat'ry planet moved and mourn'd.

In 1819 Miss Huntley became Mrs. Charles Sigourney, an event that almost ended her contributions to literature. Her husband, who was very wealthy and proper, insisted that she publish no more. Her husband's financial situation deteriorated, however, and it became a matter of necessity for Lydia Sigourney to write. She could easily turn out a thousand pages a year. Her fee usually averaged $2 a page, and she often got $5 for a stanza. Her poetry was widely acclaimed in America and Europe, and when she toured Europe, Wordsworth called on her and Carlyle invited her to tea. Poe wrote a perceptive criticism of her work and often solicited her poems for the journals he edited. According to Poe, her best lines were:

            Oh, speak no ill of Poetry,

            For 't is a holy thing!

The nineteenth century had a taste for the sentimental, the noble, the virtuous, and, especially, for the emotions connected with death and burial. Mourning and bereavement became central to Lydia Sigourney's work. Indeed, it could be said that in her day one had not definitely died in Hartford until Lydia Sigourney had written one's elegy.

For Further Reading

The standard biography of Lydia Sigourney is Gordon S. Haight, Mrs. Sigourney, the Sweetest Singer of Hartford (New Haven, Connecticut, 1930).

* Entry under revision.