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Alice CaryAmerican poet
Date of Birth: 26.04.1820
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Alice Cary
Alice Cary was an American poet and the older sister of poet Phoebe Cary. She was born on April 26, 1820, in Mount Healthy, Ohio, a small town near Cincinnati. Her parents lived on the 27-acre Clovernook Farm, which was purchased by Robert Cary in 1813 and is now located in North College Hill, Ohio. The family was large, and the farm was located 10 miles north of Cincinnati, quite far from schools, so her father couldn't afford to provide a good education for all nine of his children. However, Alice and her younger sister Phoebe loved reading and taught themselves as much as they could. The family had liberal views on politics and religion and supported reforms. All the household members regularly attended Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist services and were friendly with the clergy of these denominations. According to her sister, Alice held onto the views instilled in her by her parents throughout her life, fully embracing their doctrine. She cared little for denominational differences and minor details; she firmly believed in the brotherhood of humanity as taught by Jesus and in the deep and unchanging mercy of God.
Early Writing and Publication
When Alice was 17 years old and Phoebe was 13, they began writing poetry that was published in newspapers. Their mother passed away in 1835, and two years later, their father remarried. Their stepmother showed no sympathy for the literary aspirations of the sisters and burdened them with household chores. However, this did not prevent the sisters from maintaining their determination to learn and engage in poetry. In the evenings, after their daily work was done, they would continue to write and read. Sometimes they were not allowed to use expensive candles "for fun," and Alice and Phoebe used a dish with fat and a rag wick as their source of light. Alice's first major poem, "The Child of Sorrow," was published in 1838 and received high praise from influential critics, including Edgar Allan Poe, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, and Horace Greeley. The works of Alice and her sister were included in Griswold's influential anthology, "The Female Poets of America." Griswold strongly recommended the sisters' works to publishers and requested a preface from renowned poet John Greenleaf Whittier, but Whittier declined, noting that their poems did not need his endorsement. In 1849, a Philadelphia publisher accepted the book "Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary," and Griswold himself wrote the preface, although anonymously. By the spring of 1850, Alice and Griswold were engaged in a lively correspondence, often flirtatious, but their romance ended by the summer of the same year.
Success and Later Life
The anthology made Alice and Phoebe known, and in 1850, they moved to New York City, where they dedicated themselves fully to their writing and gained considerable fame. On Sunday evenings, the sisters hosted gatherings attended by many famous personalities of their time, including Whittier, Greeley, the scandalous entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum, activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, diplomat and journalist Bayard Taylor and his wife, novelist Thomas Bailey Aldrich, and many other interesting people - writers, poets, journalists, artists, actors, and politicians. Alice's work was published in "Atlantic Monthly," "Harper's," "Putnam's Magazine," "New York Ledger," "Independent," and other literary magazines. Later, her works, both poetry and prose, were published as separate books, well-received in the United States and abroad. She also authored novels and poems that were not printed in magazines and were published as separate collections right away.
Death and Legacy
Alice died of tuberculosis in New York City on February 12, 1871, two months before her 52nd birthday. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, next to her sister, who passed away five months later.
