Louise Imogen Guiney
Louise Imogen Guiney was an American poet and essayist born on January 7, 1861, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The daughter of a Union Army officer, she faced personal tragedy early in life with her father's sudden death when she was sixteen. Guiney graduated from Elmhurst Academy and furthered her education with private tutors. She published her first poetry collection, *Songs at the Start*, in 1884, followed by a popular essay collection, *Goose-Quill Papers*, in 1885. Her literary pursuits led her to England, where she explored the Roman Catholic tradition in literature and revived interest in forgotten British writers. Guiney established her poetic reputation with *A Roadside Harp* in 1893, but faced professional challenges due to her faith. Despite her declining health later in life, she continued to write until her passing on November 2, 1920, in Gloucestershire, England. Her legacy includes a final poetry volume, *Happy Ending*, published in 1909, and collections of her letters released posthumously.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Louise Imogen Guiney
Poet
- Born: January 7, 1861
- Birthplace: Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Died: November 2, 1920
- Place of death: Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England
Biography
The poetic craft and intelligence of Louise Imogen Guiney continue to earn her respect, although her fame declined greatly after the twentieth century advent of Modernism. She was born on January 7, 1861, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Patrick Robert Guiney, was a regiment commander for the Union Army during the American Civil War, eventually becoming a brigadier-general; her mother’s name is given variously as Jane, Janet, or Jeannette Margaret (Doyle) Guiney. Her father died suddenly when Guiney was only sixteen; she kept his sword and spurs hanging over her desk from then on. Guiney graduated in 1879 from the Elmhurst Academy in Providence, Rhode Island, a convent school she attended for six years, and then received further education from private tutors.
Songs at the Start, Guiney’s first collection of poetry, appeared in 1884, and in 1885 she published Goose-Quill Papers, a popular collection of essays. After working for a time at the Boston Public Library, she moved to England from 1889 to 1891 and pursued her interest in the Roman Catholic tradition in English literature. Due to her later scholarly efforts and published works, popular interest was revived in many British writers in danger of being forgotten, such as Irish poet James Clarence Mangan.
Guiney’s own poetic voice was established with the appearance of her volume of poetry, A Roadside Harp (1893). After its publication, admirers helped her obtain a postmistress position in Auburndale, Massachusetts. When local residents refused to buy stamps from her because of her Roman Catholic faith, she began receiving stamp orders from supporters all over the United States. Guiney moved back to Oxford, England, in 1901, and continued writing steadily, although troubled by increasing deafness, weak sight, and the arteriosclerosis that would eventually cause her death.
Her last poetry volume, Happy Ending: The Collected Lyrics of Louise Imogen Guiney, came out in 1909. Guiney died on November 2, 1920, in her house at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, England. She was buried near Oxford. Guiney’s letters were published in two volumes in 1926. A volume she was coediting with Geoffrey Bliss, Recusant Poets, came out in 1938 in England and 1939 in the United States.