Elizabeth Stoddard
Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard (1823-1902) was an American author and journalist notable for her contributions to literature during the 19th century. Born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, Stoddard faced early challenges, including financial instability within her family. She attended Wheaton Female Seminary and later moved to New York, where she became involved in literary circles and published her first poem in 1842. Stoddard married fellow poet Richard Henry Stoddard, and their financial struggles prompted her to pursue hack writing and journalism, contributing popular columns to the San Francisco Daily Alta California.
Her literary work includes three novels, with her debut, *The Morgensons* (1862), reflecting her own life experiences and exploring themes of female autonomy and sexuality through a proto-realistic narrative style. This novel, along with her other works, often employed symbolism to delve into human psychology. Despite the critical interest in her later novels, they did not achieve commercial success during her lifetime, and she shifted her focus to journalism and children’s literature. Stoddard's legacy was partially revived in the late 19th century, gaining attention from literary figures like William Dean Howells. She passed away from pneumonia in 1902, leaving behind a nuanced body of work that engages with societal norms and personal identity.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Elizabeth Stoddard
Writer
- Born: May 6, 1823
- Birthplace: Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
- Died: August 1, 1902
Biography
Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard was born on May 6, 1823, in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. Her mother was Betsy Drew Barstow, and her father, Wilson Barstow, owned a shipbuilding business plagued by bankruptcies. She was the second eldest child in a family of six boys and two girls. She attended Wheaton Female Seminary in 1837 and from 1840 to 1841.
In 1841, she traveled to New York and attended literary gatherings at poet Anne Lynch’s home. Stoddard’s first publication, a poem titled “Phases,” appeared in Literary World a year later. Two months after that, she married Richard Henry Stoddard, a poet she had met in New York. In 1853, Richard Stoddard obtained a position in the New York Customs House via Elizabeth’s distant relative, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although Richard Stoddard kept this job for sixteen years, the Stoddards were chronically short of money.
Elizabeth Stoddard turned to hack writing for funds as well as writing distinct from her husband’s literary friends, who were known as the Genteel Circle. From 1854 to 1858, she contributed seventy-five biweekly columns on life in New York and Europe to the San Francisco Daily Alta California. This column, called From Our Lady Correspondent, were popular and offered shrewd insights on topics from book reviews to current events. In 1855, their eldest son, Wilson, was born. Four years later, a second son was born, but he died in a few months. Wilson died of scarlet fever in 1861.
Stoddard’s first novel, The Morgensons, appeared in 1862 and drew on Stoddard’s own life. It is the coming- of-age story of Cassandra Morgenson, the daughter of a shipbuilder who rejects the roles her society has earmarked for women. The protagonist’s questioning of social mores as well as Stoddard’s narration, which eschewed authorial moralizing, are characteristic of Stoddard’s proto-realistic style and her focus on observing the human psyche and condition, particularly through struggles with sexuality. Stoddard typically uses symbols to stand for crucial issues. The horse is a symbol of sexuality, the animalistic part of human nature that must be conquered and channeled for self-understanding instead of self- destruction. In The Morgensons, the protagonist is kept from a sexual encounter by a tragic accident that scars her face, and the other characters comment on how the experience “marked” her.
Stoddard’s last child, Edwin Lorimer, was born in 1863. Her second novel, Two Men, was published a year later. The book is considered more conventional in form as it uses third- instead of first-person narration, but the nonjudgmental portrayal of a mixed-race love affair drew criticism. Stoddard’s final novel, Temple House, appeared in 1867. None of her novels sold well, and until 1873, Stoddard concentrated on journalism and producing more conventional short fiction for the popular magazine market.
In 1874, Stoddard revised a series of six short pieces into a children’s book, Lolly Dinks’ Doings, named after her surviving son, but she had ceased writing. Between 1888 and 1889, her novels appeared in revised editions to some public interest, particularly that of William Dean Howells, who helped Stoddard publish a collection of poems in 1895. The novels were reprinted again in 1901, the year Edwin died of tuberculosis. Stoddard died of pneumonia the following year.