The Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the subject, message, and broad appeal of the poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, the popularity she enjoyed as a poet in her day, her philosophy of human rights, and her involvement in activities that could help further the rights of black people. The paper includes some of Harper's poems in order to demonstrate her technique, style, and use of imagery.

From the Paper:

"Benjamin Brawley writes of her that she was clearly a minor poet who gained a reputation in part because of other activities. For instance, for six years prior to the Civil War Harper was an anti-slavery agent in the East, and for more than thirty years after the war she was a lecturer in the South on temperance and home-building, with her major interest being in moral and social reform. She was born of free parents in Baltimore, and when they died, she had to make her own living beginning at age 13. Later, she was a teacher for three years in Ohio, but when Maryland passed an act forbidding free Negroes from the North to come to the state or they would be imprisoned and sold into slavery, she dedicated herself to fighting this wrong and other limits on freedom (Brawley 100-101)."

More papers on The Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper:

• Essay # 40792 : "Women's Roles: Harper and Cooper"
• Essay # 49569 : "The Poetry of Robert Frost"
• Essay # 33686 : "The Poetry of Longfellow"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: