Elizabeth Drew Stoddard

thumb|Stoddard, 1901 Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (née Barstow) (May 6, 1823 – August 1, 1902) was a United States poet and novelist. Quotes I hail the seasons as they go, I woo the sunshine, brave the wind, I scan the lily and the rose, I nod to every nodding tree, I follow every stream that flows, And wait beside the steadfast sea. "The Poet's Secret", line 3, in Poems (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1895), p. 1. Kindle ebook ASIN B0084BS0QSASIN The Morgesons (1862) New York: Carleton, 1862 The country is crazy with barrenness, and the sea mocks it with its terrible beauty. Ch. XX, p. 120. A habit grew upon me of consulting the sea as soon as I rose in the morning. Its aspect decided how my day would be spent. I watched it at last with constant study of its changes, seeking to understand its effect upon me mentally, and ever attracted by its awful materiality, for it always talked to me of the ease with which it could drown me. I was drawn to its shores by night; its vague sphere, swayed by some influence mightier than itself, which made its voice articulate, drew my soul out beside it, to utter speech for speech. Ch. XXIV, pp. 148–149. The desolation of winter sustains our frail hopes. Nature is kindest then; she does not taunt us with fruition. It is the luxury of summer which tantalizes—her long, brilliant, blossoming days, her dewy, radiant nights. Ch. XXVI, p. 162. Two Men: A Novel (1865) New York: Bunce and Huntington, 1865 Never does the soul feel so far from human life as when a man finds himself alone in the vistas of the moon, either in the streets of a sleeping city, the avenues of the woods, or by the border of the sea. Earth, swayed perhaps by her powerful satellite, withdraws her sympathy from him and he wanders in a white void, wondering if he was born to be thus annulled. Ch. XVI, p. 134. Comfort is tedious when it lasts too long. Ch. XXII, p. 174. A woman despises a man for loving her, unless she happens to return his love. Ch. XXXII, p. 247. External links Author:Elizabeth Drew Stoddard Category:20th-century poets from the United States Category:19th-century poets from the United States Category:1902 deaths Category:Poets from Massachusetts Category:Novelists from Massachusetts Category:Women authors from the United States