Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . te Island Light, Isles ofShoals; so that Celta grew up compan-ioned by sea and sky. In her maturity sheestablished her residence upon AppledoreIsland, one of the Isles of Shoals. There she married Levi LincolnThaxter in 1851; and for many years she wrote poetry, painted,enjoyed music, tended her garden; and at last, on August 26th, 1894,passed away, having won a distinct reputation as a singer of sin-cerity, charm, and power. When Lowell, as editor of the Atlantic,printed her first poem, he recognized hers as a newvoice, not an echo.
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . te Island Light, Isles ofShoals; so that Celta grew up compan-ioned by sea and sky. In her maturity sheestablished her residence upon AppledoreIsland, one of the Isles of Shoals. There she married Levi LincolnThaxter in 1851; and for many years she wrote poetry, painted,enjoyed music, tended her garden; and at last, on August 26th, 1894,passed away, having won a distinct reputation as a singer of sin-cerity, charm, and power. When Lowell, as editor of the Atlantic,printed her first poem, he recognized hers as a newvoice, not an echo. is as well known and lovedas any verse written by an American woman. In the finest of j\ lyrics, felicitous description, a deep human sympathy, andsense of the dramatic are to be noted. Her verse is strong aswell as sweet; it can be objective and have narrative interest, aswell as be purely lyrical. Its movement and vigor preserve it fromweakness or sentimentalitv. The didactic and moral creep in at. ?f«=* Celia Thaxter CELIA THAXTER 14761 times to the injury of the work as art, but this is only occasionallya defect. There is in much of Mrs. Thaxters poetry an undertoneof sadness,— easily explained by events in the poets life, for she wasnot unacquainted with grief. In poems like *? The Watch of BoonIsland > or The Tryst, ^ her sense of the gloom and doom of lifecomes boldly out. She was naturally, however, of a buoyant, san-guine temperament, and the mood of faith and hope prevails in herverse. The love of the sea and the love of flowers were passionswith her; music was dear to her heart, and as a motive it is foundin some of her loveliest poems,— and others. She was widely receptive to the arts. Shewrote charming prose, but it is as a singer that she will survive inAmerican literature. Mrs. Thaxters first volume of poems appeared in 1872; the nextyear, a prose history with a
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