The literary work of =Anna Katherine Green=, =Kate Douglas Wiggins=, =Molly Elliot Seawell=, =Ellen Glasgow=, =Mary Shipman Andrews=, =Leona Dalrymple=, =Margaret Sherwood=, and many other woman authors, excellent as much as it is, can only be referred to summarily.
To enrol the names of those American women who since the days of Anne Bradstreet have expressed their thoughts and emotions in poetry, would be a task far exceeding the limits of this volume. Confining ourselves to the most noteworthy, we mention first the sisters =Alice= and =Phœbe Cary=. Among their many splendid poems and novels “Hualco, a Romance of the Golden Age of Tezcuco,” is founded upon adventures of a young Mexican chief, as related by several Spanish historians of the time of the conquest. Of Alice Cary exist several hymns, one of which is almost a classic in the purity of its sentiment.
The poetic spirit of =Julia Ward Howe= found expression in “Passion Flowers” (1854) and “Lyrics” (1866). Her most memorable poem is the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which breathes fervent patriotism and gives expression to the deep moral purpose of the Civil War.
The poetry of =Helen Jackson= unquestionably takes rank above that of any American woman. Emerson rated it above that of almost all American men. Her works include simple poetry of domestic life as well as love-poems of extraordinary intensity and imaginative fullness, furthermore, verses showing most intimate sympathy with external nature; and lastly, a few poems of the highest dignity and melody in the nature of odes, such as “A Christmas Symphony” and “A Funeral March.”
The numerous lyrics of =Elizabeth Oakes Smith=, =E. O. Kinney=, =Frances S. Osgood=, =Anne L. Botta=, =Sarah Helen Whitman=, =Maria Lowell=, =Harriet W. Sewall=, =Emily Judson= and many other women poets of the last half century show a development corresponding to that traceable in the field of American fiction.
In recent times a large number of gifted women have contributed to the general chorus new notes of unusual strength and beauty. Many names deserve a place upon the honor roll; among them =Margaret J. Preston=, =Elizabeth Allen=, =Julia Dorr=, =Mary E. Bradley=, =Nora Perry=, =Mary C. Hudson=, =Margaret Sangster=, =Charlotte Bates=, =May Riley Smith=, =Edna Dean Proctor=, =Elizabeth Stuart Phelps=, =Alice Wellington Rollins=, =Edith Thomas=, =Emma Lazarus=, =Kate Osgood=, and =Ella Wheeler Wilcox=.