Lucretia maria davidson biography of williams

American poet (–)

Lucretia Maria Davidson (September 27, – August 27, ) was an American poet of the early 19th century.

Biography

She was born in Plattsburgh, New York, on September 27, Her father, Oliver Davidson, was a physician, and her mother, Margaret Miller, was an author. She was sent at the age of four to Plattsburgh Academy, where she learned to read, and wrote Roman letters in the sand. Soon afterward her mother observed that her writing paper was disappearing strangely, and finally discovered a pile of little blank books, containing artfully sketched pictures, with descriptions in poetry, all printed in Roman letters, turned and twisted in a curious fashion. The child was so mortified at the discovery of what she had been doing that she burned all her work.

Lucretia learned to write in her seventh year and developed a great fondness for reading. Before she was twelve she had read much history, and the dramatic works of William Shakespeare, Oliver Goldsmith and August von Kotzebue, with many popular novels and romances. Davidson was an extremely precocious child, and she wrote the earliest remaining specimen of her verse, "Epitaph on a Robin", at the age of nine. She wrote poetry rapidly, when in the mood, but preferred to be alone while composing, often burning an unfinished piece that had been seen by others. She was fond of childish sports, but would often stop in the midst of them to write when struck with an idea for a poem.

When about fourteen years old she was allowed to attend a ball in Plattsburgh, but, in the midst of her preparations, was found sitting in a corner writing verses on "What the World Calls Pleasure". Her mother's friends advised that pen and ink be kept from her, and, hearing of this, she voluntarily gav

Accession Number:

Summary/Description: Volume 7 in Library of American Biography series. Brown cloth over boards with gold stamping on spine, blind-stamped decorative border on covers. The series. Inked inside front cover, "Ky Inst. for Blind".

Author: Bowen, Francis,

Collection: KSB Collection

History/Provenance: Printed book used at the Kentucky School for the Blind.

Credit Line: Gift of the Kentucky School for the Blind,

Publisher: Harper & Brothers

Publisher Place: New York

Publish Date:

Subjects: Biography. Davidson, Lucretia Maria, Phips, William, Sir, Putnam, Israel, Rittenhouse, David,

Physical Description: p. : ill. ; x x 1 in.

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Born 27 September , Plattsburg, New York; died 27 August , Plattsburg, New York

Daughter of Oliver and Margaret Miller Davidson

After her early schooling at home, Lucretia Davidson was sent to Troy Female Academy. Coming from a household "with the sickbed as focal point," Davidson's delicate health was further undermined by the school's excessively ambitious curriculum; by the eight to ten hours' daily study in ill-ventilated rooms; by the virtual absence of outdoor exercise; and by insufficient sleep, further curtailed, before examinations, by rising at two a.m. or midnight to study until four. Despite her mother's concern, her father approved of sending her back to school, this time at Miss Gilbert's Albany Academy. Within three months Davidson returned home to die.

Restricted by her inexperience, Davidson sensibly drew her writing subject matter either from her daily life or from her studies. From history, biblical and national, came "David and Jonathon," "Ruth's Answer to Naomi," the prose "Columbus," and the spirited "Vermont Cadets"—from the classroom, the humorous "Week Before Examination" which was deservedly popular with her schoolmates; from her brief but poignant personal encounters with suffering, mental and physical, poems like "Headache" and "Fears of Death." These latter, especially, have the ring of sincerity, transcending her usual level of stock images and poetic diction.

Amir Khan and Other Poems, selected by her mother and with a biographical introduction by the artist and inventor Samuel Morse, was published in Copies were sent by Morse to a number of leading writers. In his covering letter to Robert Southey, poet laureate of England, Morse invited comparison with other youthful prodigies such as Chatterton and White, of "this new genius which sprang up and bloomed in the wilderness, assumed the female form and wore the features of exquisite beauty and perished in the bloom." Southey's response was an pa

The Best Poem Of Lucretia Maria Davidson

The Yellow Fever

(Written in her sixteenth year.)

The sky is pure, the clouds are light,
The moonbeams glitter cold and bright;
O'er the wide landscape breathes no sigh;
The sea reflects the star-gemm'd sky,
And every beam of Heav'n's broad brow
Glows brightly on the world below.
But ah! the wing of death is spread;
I hear the midnight murd'rers tread; —
I hear the Plague that walks at night,
I mark its pestilential blight;
I feel its hot and with'ring breath,
It is the messenger of death! —
And can a scene so pure and fair
Slumber beneath a baleful air?
And can the stealing form of death
Here wither with its blighting breath?
Yes; and the slumb'rer feels its power
At midnight's dark and silent hour;
He feels the wild fire thro' his brain;
He wakes; his frame is rack'd with pain;
His eye half closed; his lip is dark;
The sword of death hath done his work;
That sallow cheek, that fever'd lip,
That eye which burns but cannot sleep,
That black parch'd tongue, that raging brain,
All mark the monarch's baleful reign!

Oh! for one pure, one balmy breath,
To cool the sufferer's brow in death;
Oh! for one wand'ring breeze of Heav'n;
Oh that one moment's rest were giv'n!
'T is past; — and hush'd the victim's prayer;
The spirit was — but is not there!

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