Sarah Wentworth Morton
Sarah Wentworth Morton was an influential American poet born into the prominent Apthorp family in the 18th century, a time when women’s education was limited. She married Boston lawyer Perez Morton in 1781 and lived in the Apthorp mansion, where she was inspired by visits from literary elites. Morton began publishing her poetry in 1789 under the pseudonym "Philenia," gaining recognition for her elegiac and pastoral themes. She produced a notable book-length poem, "Ouâbi: Or, The Virtues of Nature," in 1790 and became recognized as the leading female poet of her era. Despite her literary accomplishments, she was often mistakenly credited with authorship of the novel "The Power of Sympathy," which was written by her neighbor William Hill Brown. Morton's life was marked by personal tragedy, including her sister's suicide following a scandal involving her husband, and the loss of several of her children. Her final collection, "My Mind and Its Thoughts," published in 1823, reflects her profound experiences of sorrow and betrayal.
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Subject Terms
Sarah Wentworth Morton
- Born: August 1, 1759
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Died: May 14, 1846
- Place of death: Quincy, Massachusetts
Biography
Sarah Wentworth Morton was born into the aristocratic, merchant Apthorp family, and she received a thorough education unusual for an eighteenth century woman. She also began composing poetry as a child. In 1781, at the age of twenty-two, she married Perez Morton, a reputable Boston lawyer, and the couple lived in the Apthorp family mansion in Boston until 1791, when they moved to Dorchester.
While the Mortons dwelled at the mansion, literary elites were frequent visitors, and Sarah Wentworth Morton’s guests encouraged her interests in writing. Her work was seen by only these contemporaries until 1789, when Morton began publishing her poems in Massachusetts Magazine’s “Seat of the Muses” section. She wrote these often elegiac or pastoral early poems first as “Constantia” and then as “Philenia,” the name under which her poetry achieved fame and praise. At this time and over the subsequent years, Morton’s poems as Philenia began appearing in various periodicals, including Columbian Centinel, New York Magazine, Tablet, Port Folio, and Monthly Anthology. In 1790, she produced a book-length poem: Ouâbi: Or, The Virtues of Nature. Subsequent volumes followed, and the poet became known as the leading female American poet of her time.
For a century she was also mistakenly assumed the author of the1789 novel The Power of Sympathy, which was actually the work of William Hill Brown, one of Morton’s neighbors. The confusion resulted from the novel’s plot, parts of which closely resembled actual traumatic events in Morton’s own life. In 1788, an affair between the poet’s sister and the poet’s husband, which had resulted in a child, became public, and the sister committed suicide. Morton and her husband stayed together, and soon after their reconciliation, Morton gave birth to a son who died just a few hours later. Two others of the couple’s five children died in youth also. Morton’s last volume of verse, filled with expressions of sorrow and experiences with betrayal, My Mind and Its Thoughts, was published in 1823.