Celia Laighton Thaxter
Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894) was an American poet and writer known for her connections to the natural world and her relationships with prominent literary figures of her time. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, she spent much of her childhood on White Island, where her father served as the lighthouse keeper. This isolated environment inspired her creative pursuits, leading her to become acquainted with notable writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Thaxter's marriage to Levi Thaxter was challenging, marked by differing aspirations and an eventual move to Massachusetts, where she felt constrained.
After her father's death, she shifted her focus back to Appledore Island, where she began writing poetry, leading to her publication in the Atlantic Monthly. Thaxter's work often intertwines themes of gender and nature, aligning her with ecofeminism. Her notable poetry collections include *Among the Isles of Shoals* and *Drift-weed*, with "The Sandpiper" being her most recognized poem. Additionally, she authored a nonfiction book on landscape design, *An Island Garden*, and wrote about a notorious murder case involving Norwegian immigrants. Thaxter's life and work reflect a deep connection to her coastal environment and the literary world she engaged with.
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Subject Terms
Celia Laighton Thaxter
- Born: June 29, 1835
- Birthplace: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Died: August 26, 1894
- Place of death: Appledore Island, Maine
Biography
Celia Laighton Thaxter was born Celia Laighton in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on June 29, 1835. When she was four years old, her father was appointed the lighthouse keeper on White Island in the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. The lighthouse was located ten miles out to sea, and it was a very lonely place. Thaxter’s father began building a hotel on Appledore Island, Maine. As a child, Thaxter’s only playmates were her brothers, Oscar and Cedric. She worked as a hostess at her father’s hotel, where she met many New England area writers and artists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who would vacation on the island. Thaxter was apparently influenced to write by her acquaintance with such literary figures.
When she was sixteen, she married Levi Thaxter, a Harvard University graduate several years her senior who had come to work in her father’s hotel. For awhile, Thaxter was a tutor for the Laighton children and he was the first educated man whom Celia Laighton had ever met. The marriage was not harmonious because the two had different goals and personalities. When Thaxter tired of his job on Appledore Island, he wanted to return to the mainland. After much persuasion, Celia agreed to move to a house in Newtonville, Massachusetts, that Thaxter’s father had built.
Thaxter was uncomfortable in her new role as a homemaker. She felt stifled in a city environment and wanted to return to Appledore Island in the summer. The couple’s first son, Karl, was born on the island in the summer of 1852. Unfortunately, the child suffered some sort of injury during his birth, and he walked with a limp and had a temperamental nature. Levi Thaxter thought Celia was an overly protective mother, and he had little to do with the child after the birth of the couple’s second and third sons. When the youngest boys were old enough, their father took them on long trips to collect bird and animal specimens for museums. Thaxter began to resent the absences of her husband and her two younger children. She accused her husband of murdering animals in the name of science, and declared to friends that the thought of Thaxter’s occupation sickened her.
After her father’s death in 1866, she started to spend more time on Appledore Island with her mother and son, Karl. She also began to write poetry. When her husband accidentally found her poem, “Landlocked,” he sent the poem to his friend, James Russell Lowell, the editor of Atlantic Monthly magazine. When the poem appeared in the next edition of the magazine, Thaxter’s career as a poet was launched.
During her lifetime, Thaxter published several collections of poetry, including Among the Isles of Shoals, Drift- Weed, and Poems for Children. Much of her poetry draws connections between gender and the natural world and, as such, her poetry has become linked to the concept of ecofeminism. Her best-known poem is “The Sandpiper.” In addition to her poetry, Thaxter also wrote a nonfiction book on landscape design, An Island Garden, which was published in 1894. In addition, she wrote a nonfiction account of the infamous murders of two Norwegian immigrant women who were killed on Appledore Island in 1873.