Biography of felicia hemans

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ELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE was born in Duke Street, Liverpool, on the 25th of September, 1793. The house is not known. Some years ago I wandered, "on a voyage of discovery," through the quaint old street, situated in the lower part of the town, near the river and the Custom-house. Many of the dwellings are a century old, with venerable porches that speak of former respectability, and fancy may accord the honour to any one of them. [Hall's note: Possibly, however, some persevering inquirer may find it out, for it is said in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1835 — 'She was born in Duke Street, in a house now inhabited by Mr. Molyneux.'"] Her father, of Irish parentage and birth, was a merchant in the great capital of sea-commerce; her mother. Miss Wagner, was of Italian descent, and the poet was fond of tracing the peculiar tendency of her mind to the Venetian blood she inherited. But to that mother she was indebted for higher boons. She was a good and accomplished woman, who gave to her daughter those lessons of practical virtue that were early learned, to be afterwards taught in immortal verse. [363/364]

Mrs. Hemans from a portrait by Benjamin West. Click on thumbnail to obtain a larger picture.

Happily, while still very young, her father retired to comparative solitude in North Wales, and in that wild, romantic, and picturesque country, closely communing with Nature, her taste was formed, and her mind strengthened [Hall's note: "Their first dwelling was at Grwych, near Abergele, a house which had the reputation of being 'haunted.'"]. During nearly the whole of her life she was a resident in the land she loved intensely. It retained its charm, even after she had visited Ireland, Scotland, and the English Lakes.

Two years before she had "entered her teens" she produced a volume of poems. Other works followed, and her name had become famous when, in h

Born in Liverpool 25 September 1793, a daughter of George Browne, merchant. When she was seven her family moved to Gwrych, near Abergele, Denbighshire. Her education was patchy but she read avidly and her progress and development were so exceptional that she was able to publish her Juvenile Poems in 1808 shortly after her fourteenth birthday. These poems were not well received but from then on she wrote and published almost continuously. She married Captain Alfred Hemans in 1812, and by 1818, the year they separated, she had borne him five sons. Other than for one short period, she lived in Bronwylfa, near Abergele, in her mother's house. A number of works belong to this period, The Domestic Affections and Other Poems, 1812; translations of the works of the Portuguese poet Camoens and others, 1818; The Sceptic, 1820; The siege of Valencia, 1823; The Forest Sanctuary and Lays of Many Lands, 1825. Her play, The Vespers of Palermo, was performed in Covent Garden, London, in December 1823 and with greater success in Edinburgh the following year. In 1825 she crossed the river Clwyd to Rhyllon and there she wrote Dramatic Scene between Bronwylfa and Rhyllon. After her mother's death two years later she went to live in Watertree near Liverpool. In 1831 she moved to Dublin; from then on she wrote mainly religious poetry. Her health had never been good and she died in Dublin 16 May, 1835. She was of a loving and gentle disposition and her poetry was tender and flowed gracefully and evenly, but it lacked strength and permanent value. Her collected works were edited by Mrs. Hughes in 1839 and by W.M. Rossetti in 1873.

Author

• Professor Gwyn Jones, (1907 - 1999)

Sources

• H. F.

            Felicia Hemans was born on September 25, 1793 in Liverpool, England to George Brown and Felicity Wagner.  Early in Felicia’s childhood, the family moved to North Wales where she spent the majority of her early years.  Felicia, at a young age, was fluent in Latin, German, French, and Italian and was known as a child prodigy.  She began writing poetry to help with financial issues after her father abandoned the family when he emigrated to Quebec.  This writing proved to be more than just a child’s hobby because at the age of 14, she published her first volume of poetry, and by the time she was 18, she had published her third volume of poetry.  Writing had become her career, a career that would prove successful for this young woman.
            At 19 years of age, Felicia married Captain Alfred Hemans of the Fourth or King’s Own Regiment who was a survivor of the Peninsular Campaign.  Within 6 years of their marriage, Felicia had bore Captain Hemans five sons and managed to still publish four more volumes of poetry.  Captain Hemans, supposedly “ill,” left for Italy right before the birth of their sixth son.  Felicia, just like the story of her mother, had been abandoned and left to care for the family on her own and would never see her husband again.  Unable to continue writing and take on the roles that motherhood demanded, Felicia and her sons moved to North Wales to live with Felicia’s mother.  Needing to provide financially for the family, Felicia focused on writing poetry while her mother took on the responsibility of raising her grandsons.  The time that Felicia spent on her writings proved to be very successful for her.
            In literary circles of the nineteenth century, Felicia Hemans

English poet (1793-1835)

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) was an English poet (who identified as Welsh by adoption). Regarded as the leading female poet of her day, Hemans was immensely popular during her lifetime in both England and the United States, and was second only to Lord Byron in terms of sales.

Two of her opening lines, "The boy stood on the burning deck" and "The stately homes of England", have acquired classic status.

Early life and education

Felicia Dorothea Browne was the daughter of George Browne, who worked for his father-in-law's wine importing business and succeeded him as Tuscan and imperial consul in Liverpool, and Felicity, daughter of Benedict Paul Wagner (1718–1806), wine importer at 9 Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool and Venetianconsul for that city. Hemans was the fourth of six children (three boys and three girls) to survive infancy. Her sister Harriet collaborated musically with Hemans and later edited her complete works (7 vols. with memoir, 1839). George Browne's business soon brought the family to Denbighshire in North Wales, where she spent her youth. They lived in a cottage within the grounds of Gwrych Castle near Abergele when Felicia was seven years old until she was sixteen and in 1809 moved to Bronwylfa, St. Asaph (Flintshire). She later called Wales "Land of my childhood, my home and my dead".Lydia Sigourney says of her education:

The nature of the education of Mrs. Hemans, was favourable to the development of her genius. A wide range of classical and poetical studies, with the acquisition of several languages, supplied both pleasant aliment and needful discipline. She required not the excitement of a more public system of culture,—for the never-resting love of knowledge was her school master.

Hemans was proficient i