Writings and criticism Lydia Sigourney

engraving of lydia sigourney

the main themes of sigourney s writing include death, responsibility, religion — strong belief in god , christian faith — , work. wrote elegies or poems deceased neighbors, friends, , acquaintances. work 1 example of victorian-era death literature views death escape better place, children. contemporary critic called work, infused morals, more dew lightning . enjoyed substantial popularity in lifetime , earned several nicknames, including american hemans , sweet singer of hartford , , female milton . influences included work of hannah more, william wordsworth, , william cowper.

conduct literature

an advocate of gendered spheres of society, sigourney followed example of hannah more in creating gendered rhetorical theory. sigourney wrote 2 conduct books. first, letters young ladies, published in 1833 , printed more twenty-five times. book argued women should practice reading aloud, , offered advice in letter writing , memorization. sigourney promotes importance of being agreeable throughout book, , suggests ways take notes, along advice on how paraphrase 1 has read. sigourney recommends girls should form reading societies, , says women should use virtue promote appearance in others.

sigourney s second conduct book, letters pupils, published in 1837. in book, sigourney focuses on pronunciation , conversation, , claims women should train in enunciation if not going speaking publicly. according sigourney, women s conversation should adhere 3 rules: should give pleasure; should instructive , should comforting. sigourney made case value of silence @ times, , argued part of woman s role listener.

in both of these books, sigourney advocates traditional 19th century gendered spheres of society, suggests women can influence society through teaching, conversation, , letter writing. madeleine de scudéry, sigourney stresses importance of being agreeable in conversation.