Eliza R. Snow : the complete poetry
Eliza R. Snow first published her poetry pseudonymously in an Ohio newspaper in 1825, when she was twenty-one. Her last poem was published in 1887, when she was eighty-three. In the intervening sixty-two years she wrote more than 500 poems. Her early work covered such various topics as the fight for Greek independence, the plight of the American Indian, and the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Her themes changed when she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1835, as her poetry began to reflect her new experiences, including poems about Nauvoo, the trek of the Mormon pioneers to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and the religious community building that ensued. No public event in the community was complete without her contribution, and some of her poems became the texts for Mormon hymns. When she died on December 5, 1887, the New York Times noted the passing of the Mormon Poetess . . . one of the central figures of the Mormon galaxy
Print Book, English, ©2009
Brigham Young University Press ; University of Utah Press, Provo, Utah, Salt Lake City [Utah], ©2009