Alice Cary (1820-1871) was an American poet and writer who was born on a farm in Ohio. She was mostly self-educated and began writing and publishing poetry in the 1830s, gaining recognition from critics like Edgar Allan Poe. Cary published several volumes of poetry and children's books. She is noted for her realistic yet incomplete sketches of characters and resistance to narrative closure in her fiction. Cary influenced other women writers of the time and was compared to authors like Poe and Hawthorne in her uses of dreamlike narration and complexity of first-person narrators.

1. Alice Cary (1820-1871) By Meredith Cohen DeSales University American Romantic Literature

2. Background information Born 1820 on a farm in Hamilton County, Ohio One of 9 children Close to older sister Rhonda, who encouraged her first attempts at poetry Very close to younger sister, Phoebe, her lifelong companion and fellow writer The village, surrounding farms, and houses of her youth became the Clovernook memorialized in her short fiction Both sisters were given little formal education and are considered self-made writers Raised in a Universalist household Liberal beliefs Died in 1871 at her home due to exhaustion

3. Early Career First major poem, “The Child of Sorrow,” was published in 1838 Praised by influential critics, such as Edgar Allen Poe Poe declared her “Pictures of Memory” to be “decidedly the noblest poem in the collection” 1850 the sisters’ joint works were issued as Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary This gave her a national reputation and encouraged her to move independently to New York City Example of 19th century new woman: financially independent of men, ran her own household, handled own money

4. Early Career, continued Phoebe moved in with her sister in 1851 and they both became regular contributors to Harper ’s, The Atlantic Monthly , and other periodicals Their house was famous for its Sunday evening receptions in which notable friends discussed women’s rights issues.

5. Publications Cary thought of herself primarily as a poet This is where she achieved much of her popularity Her short fiction was critically acclaimed, but because the genre was not popular at the time, she was better known for her poetry. The style of Cary’s short fiction was influential and innovative During lifetime she published: 4 volumes of poetry Two collections of poetry and prose for children Three novels

6. Cary’s Literary Style Cary’s interest lies not in plot, but in character She gives an experience of human life as primarily a mystery Actions are rarely completed Cary seems to have a resistance to closure and often gives incomplete sketches “ Her fiction offers a harsh antidote to child-centered works so popular with other 19th century American writers” (Fetterley)

7. Comparisons and Connections to Other Writers Judith Fetterley, editor, critic, and romantic literature authority, compares Cary with a number of different writers in a number of different contexts. Fetterley’s comparisons and connections show the influence and importance Cary had in early Romantic American literature of the period.

8. Poe and Hawthorne Cary can be compared in her: Use of fiction as dream work and projection Use of the first-person narrator complexities of that narrator’s relation to the story and characters -Judith Fetterley

9. 19 th Century Women Writers Use of realism Commitment to telling the woman’s side of the story -Judith Fetterley

10. Emily Dickinson Uses her imagination to bring her presence into the center of her work “ Use of sustained development of first-person narration” (Fetterley) -Judith Fetterley

11. Selected List of Published Works Clovernook, or, Recollections of Our Neighborhood in the West (1852) Hagar: A Story for Today (1852) Clovernook, Second Series Uncle Christopher’s (1853) Pictures of Country Life (1859)

12. Famous Cary Quotes: “ Yea, when mortality dissolves, Shall I not meet thine hour unawed? My house eternal in the heavens Is lighted by the smile of God!” ( Reconciled) “ True worth is in being, not seeming” “ Women and men in the crowd meet and mingle, Yet with itself every soul standeth single”

13. Works Consulted &quot;Alice Cary.&quot; Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 Apr 2008, 22:12 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Jul 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alice_Cary&oldid=206349372>. &quot;Cary sisters.&quot; Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 15 Jul. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1345789/Cary-sisters>.

14. Works Cited Fetterley, Judith. “Alice Cary.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature . 5th ed. Ed. Paul Lauter. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Fetterley, Judith. “Alice Cary.” 15 July 2008. <http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/cary.html>