Born: 25 September 1793, United Kingdom
Died: 16 May 1835
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Felicia Dorothea Browne
The following is excerpted from Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King, published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.
English poetess and dramatist
Felicia Dorothea Hemans was born at Liverpool, September 25, 1793. Her father, George Browne, was a Liverpool merchant of Irish extraction; her mother, whose maiden name was Wagner, was of mixed Italian and German descent.
Felicia was distinguished by her beauty and precocity, and at an early age she manifested a taste for poetry, in which she was encouraged by her mother. Family reverses led to the removal of the Brownes to Wales, where the young poetess imbibed a strong passion for nature, read books of chronicles and romance, and gained a working knowledge of the German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. She also cultivated her excellent musical taste.
Her first volume was published in 1808, when she was only fifteen years of age, and contained a few pieces written about four years earlier; her second, entitled The Domestic Affections, appeared in 1812. In the same year she married Captain Hemans of the 4th regiment, who settled in Italy in 1818. After this time they never met again; their marriage was understood not to have been happy. Mrs. Hemans, though in poor health, now devoted herself to the education of her children, to reading and writing, and spent the rest of her life in North Wales, Lancashire, and latterly at Dublin, where she died May 16, 1835.
Her principal works are The Vespers of Palermo, a tragedy which proved a failure when acted at Covent Garden; The Siege of Valencia, The Forest Sanctuary, The Songs of the Affections, Hymns for Childhood, and Scenes and Hymns of Life.
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women, written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Felicia Dorothea Hemans, an English poet, born in Liverpool. She was distinguished for her beauty and precocity, and her first volume of poems was published when she was only fifteen years old.
In 1812 she married Captain Hemans, an Irish soldier, but the marriage was unhappy, and they separated six years later. Mrs. Hemans, though in poor health, now devoted herself to the education of her children, to reading and writing, and spent the rest of her life in North Wales, Lancashire, and latterly at Dublin, where she died at the age of forty-two. One of her best friends was Sir Walter Scott, with whom she and her boys often stayed at Abbotsford.
Mrs. Hemans’ poetry is the production of a fine imaginative and enthusiastic temperament, but not of a commanding intellect or very complex or subtle nature. It is the outcome of a beautiful but singularly circumscribed life, a life spent in romantic seclusion, without much worldly experience, and warped and saddened by domestic unhappiness and physical suffering. An undue preponderance of the emotional is its prevailing characteristic. Scott complained that it was “too poetical,” that it contained “too many flowers” and “too little fruit.”
Without great originality or force, she is yet sweet and pleasing. Though her range was limited, she was a woman of true genius, and some of her little lyrics, The Voice of Spring, The Better Land, Casabianca, The Graves of a Household, The Treasures of the Deep, and The Homes of England, are perfect in pathos and sentiment, and will live as long as the English language. These are found in almost every school collection, and this early familiarity with her sweet and simple lyrics has helped to keep her memory green.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA, Was the second daughter and fourth child of a family of three sons and three daughters. She was born in Duke street, Liverpool, on the 25th. of September, 1794. Her father, Mr. Browne, was a native of Ireland, and her mother, a Miss Wagner, was of Venetian origin. As a child, Felicia was remarkably beautiful, and she early gave indications of her poetic genius, which was encouraged by her accomplished mother. When Miss Browne was about five years old, domestic embarrassments led her father to remove to Gwyrch, in North Wales.
That land of wild mountain scenery, and ancient minstrelsy, was the fitting place to impart sublimity to her youthful fancies, and elevate her feelings with the glow of patriotism and devotion. She began to write when very young; her first printed poems, entitled “Early Blossoms,” were issued in 1808, when she was fourteen.
In 1809, her family removed from Gwyrch to Bronwylfa, near St. Asaph’s, in Flintshire, where she resided for sixteen years, and wrote many of her works. It was during this year, 1809, that the great event of her life took place—her introduction to Captain Hemans. A mutual attachment was the immediate consequence of the meeting, but Captain Hemans, soon after their introduction, was called upon to embark with his regiment for Spain. On his return, in 1812, they were married.
Mrs. Hemans’ eagerness for knowledge continued to be intense, and of her industry, volumes, still existing, of extracts and transcriptions, are evidence. The mode of her studies was very desultory to outward appearance, as she loved to be surrounded by books of all sorts and languages, and on every variety of topic, turning from one to another. And this course, it is said, “she pursued at all times—in season and out of season—by night and day—on her chair, her sofa, and bed—at home and abroad—invalid, convalescent, and in perfect health—in rambles, journeys, and visits—in company with her husband, and when her children were around her—at hours usually devoted to domestic claims, as well as in the solitary of the study and the bower.”
In the year 1818, Captain Hemans’ health requiring the benefit of a warmer climate, he determined upon repairing to the Continent, and eventually fixed his residence at Rome. At this time a permanent separation was not contemplated by either party, and it was only a tacit and convenient arrangement, with a frequent interchange of correspondence relative to the education and the disposal of their children. But years rolled on, and from that time till the hour of her death, Captain and Mrs. Hemans never met again. She continued to reside with her mother al Bronwylfa, and had the five boys left under her care; a sufficient proof that nothing more than incompatibility of pursuits and uncongeniality of temper were the moving causes of the separation.
Notwithstanding the peculiarity of her situation, in consequence of this separation, her talents, her amiable qualities, and the increasing popularity of her writings, continued to secure Mrs. Hemans the warm attachment of several distinguished friends, among whom were Bishop Luxmoore and Bishop Heber; with the latter she became acquainted in 1820, and he was the first literary character with whom she ever familiarly associated. To him she submitted the commencement of a poem, entitled “Superstition and Revelation,” which was, however, never completed by her, and at his suggestion, she was first led to offer her “Vespers of Palermo” to the stage. This play, completed in June, 1821, was, after many theatrical delays, acted at Covent Garden, in December, 1823, but proved a failure. It, however, led to a correspondence with the poet Milman, who kindly interested himself in its behalf; and it was subsequently acted in Edinburgh with considerable success,—with an epilogue written by Sir Walter Scott.
The death of her beloved mother, which occurred in 1827, was an irreparable loss to Mrs. Hemans; she had now no one to whom she could cling for protection; and her sensitive, dependent nature, made the maternal shelter and security necessary to her happiness—almost to her existence. As the care and education of her five sons now devolved entirely on herself, she was induced to leave Wales, where her heart still clung, and settle at Wavertree, a small village near Liverpool, where she hoped to find superior advantages of education for her boys.
During the many years that Mrs. Hemans resided with her mother, the anxieties and responsibilities of housekeeping had never fallen to her lot, for her time and thoughts might be and were almost exclusively devoted to poetry and literature. But now domestic cares forced themselves upon her attention, and household duties, in which she felt but little interest.
In the summer of 1829 she visited Scotland, where she was cordially received by many distinguished persons, among others, by Sir Walter Scott, with whom she spent two or three weeks very delightfully. When bidding her farewell, he said, “There are some whom we meet, and should like ever after to claim as kith and kin, and you are one of these.” On one occasion he observed, “One would say you had too many accomplishments, Mrs. Hemans, were they not all made to give pleasure to those around you.” In 1830, Mrs. Hemans visited the Lakes, where she formed a personal acquaintance with Wordsworth, whose writings she had always admired. Mrs. Hemans was delighted with the scenery at Rydal Mount, and concluded to hire a residence called Dove’s Nest, beautifully situated in a very romantic spot on the banks of Windermere.
In 1831 she left England with her children, to take up her residence permanently in Dublin. The next four years were passed busily and rather pleasantly by Mrs. Hemans, who continued to write unceasingly, though a gradual decline in her health was perceptible to her friends. At the close of the year 1834 her health became very precarious, and the following spring brought symptoms of her approaching dissolution. The closing scene has been impressively described by one of her friends:—
“Mrs. Hemans was now too ill to leave her room, and was only laid upon a couch during the daytime, occasionally suffering severely. But all was borne with resignation and patience, and when not able to bear even the fatigue of reading, she had recourse to her mental resources, and as she lay on her sofa, she would repeat to herself whole chapters of the Bible, and page after page of Milton and Wordsworth. Her thoughts reverted frequently to the days of her childhood—to the old house by the sea-shore—the mountain rambles—the haunts and the books which had formed the delight of her childhood. She was wont to say to those who expressed pity for her situation, that ‘she lived in a fair and happy world of her own, among gentle thoughts and pleasant images;’ and in her intervals of pain she would observe, that ‘no poetry could express, nor imagination conceive, the visions of blessedness that flitted across her fancy, and made her waking hours more delightful than those even that were given to temporary repose.'” Indeed her sister observes, “At times her spirit would appear to be already half-etherealized, her mind would seem to be fraught with deep and holy and incommunicable thoughts, and she would entreat to be left perfectly alone, in stillness and darkness, ‘to commune with her own heart,’ and reflect on the mercies of her Saviour.”
On the 15th of March, after receiving the holy sacrament, she became extremely ill, but a temporary improvement took place, and on the 26th. of April, she dedicated to her brother, (for she had for some time been constrained to employ an amanuensis,) her “Sabbath Sonnet,” the last strain of the sweet singer of the hearth, the home, and the affections.
On Saturday, the 26th. of May, she sank into a peaceful slumber, which continued all day, and at nine o’clock in the evening her gentle spirit passed away without pain or struggle.
Her remains were deposited in a vault beneath St. Anne’s Church, Dublin, almost close to the house where she died. A small tablet has been placed above the spot where she is laid, inscribed with her name, her age, and the date of her death, and with some lines from a dirge of her own.