The Selected Letters of Elizabeth Stoddard

Letter 8. To Rufus Wilmot Griswold, January 4, 1856

22 letter 8  To Rufus Wilmot Griswold January 4, 1856 New York City, New York New York. 4th Avenue [illegible] January 4, 1856 Dear Sir I saw to day for the first time a volume of your “Poets and Poetry of America.”1 I discovered there my maiden name in print and, underneath it a kind notice, which I thank you for. It is something nowadays to be “predicted” about, for a woman I mean. The Literary Female is abroad, and the souls of literary men are tried. I am afraid to think of writing a book, and only intend to keep up a guerilla kind of warfare, by sending out odds and ends. Any holding out of the hands from the “powers that be” gratifies me and helps me on. But I am not equal to a speech, I can only bow my thanks. Please remember me to Mrs Griswold2 and believe me yours truly Elizabeth D B Stoddard Manuscript: Rufus W. Griswold Collection, Boston Public Library notes 1. The Poets and Poetry of America, originally published in 1842, went through several editions. Here, Stoddard is referring to the 1855 edition, in which Griswold mentionedherattheendoftheentryonRichardStoddard,assertingthather“recent occasional contributions to the periodicals have marked individuality, and justify predictions of remarkable and peculiar excellence should she continue to cultivate hercapacitiesforliterature”(609).Atthetime,Stoddardhadpublishedeightpoems. 2. Harriet McCrillis Griswold, Griswold’s third wife; see Letter 4, note 8. Stoddard writes this letter one month before the appeal of Griswold’s second wife, Charlotte Myers, was heard in court. Due to the public nature of the divorce, Harriet McCrillis Griswold had by this point left Griswold and moved back with her family in Bangor, Maine. ...