1112. EBB to James Russell Lowell
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 261–262.
London Wimpole Street 50.
Jany 4. 1843–
Dear Mr Lowell,
Whether the Americans are known or misknown for the tendencies you speak of, I cannot say. From the circumstances of a retired life & ill health it has happened that I never stood face to face with an American, [1] except in my dreams. But I love the Americans & America for the sake of national brotherhood & a common literature & I honor them for the sake of liberty & noble aspiration—& I am grateful to them, .. very grateful, .. for their kindness to me personally as a poet– To all these feelings it is agreeable, when I comply with a request of Mr Lowell’s .. and to another feeling beside, my respect for him individually: and I hasten into this expression of feeling from a desire to justify to himself that part of his good opinion of me which led him to trust me frankly; the rest of it remaining I fear beyond the reach of my power of proving .. although not, believe me, of my gratitude.
I will write out a few poems below; [2] & they must stand for my goodwill in the matter & for my readiness to do a little more occasionally in the same way, should you continue to desire it. But I am unacquainted with Mr Tennyson; I do not “side the gods” [3] as you suppose .. & therefore I cannot forward your petition–
With every kind wish I remain
your friend
Elizabeth B Barrett.
You must be good enough to transcribe these MSS which are really ashamed of themselves in all ways (but I send hurriedly the first verses nearest to my hand & I am pressed for space) before you commit them to the printer. All his diablerie [4] wd not help him to put them into type from the present state—& I have fears lest you yourself “give them up” as riddles in Sanscrit.
Address: J R Lowell Esqr / 4 Court Street / Boston / United States.
Publication: BAF, pp. 352–353.
Manuscript: Harvard University.
1. This contradicts Ticknor’s belief that he had met EBB in 1838 (see letter 1022, note 15).
2. The letter contains fair copies of “The Maiden’s Death,” “That Day,” and “Sonnet. Imperfect Manifestations.” The upper third of the third page, bearing lines 19–31 of “The Maiden’s Death,” has been excised. Apparently the reverse of this page bore another short poem, as Lowell told Robert Carter that EBB’s letter contained four poems (James Russell Lowell: A Biography, Horace E. Scudder, 1901, I, 111).
“The Maiden’s Death” was printed in the third and last issue of The Pioneer (March 1843, p. 112), but was not republished during EBB’s lifetime. An earlier variant text, ca. 1839, was printed in The Cornhill Magazine in December 1913 (pp. 721–722) and was included in Kenyon’s New Poems of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1914, pp. 132–133). Two other versions, one of 30 lines rather than 34, appeared in HUP (II, 175–176 and 230–231), with a facsimile reproduction of the manuscript of the latter. See Reconstruction, D501–507, for a listing of the extant manuscripts of this poem.
“That Day” and “Imperfect Manifestations” were not used by Lowell, as no further numbers of his magazine were issued; both were included in Poems (1844), the latter retitled “Insufficiency.”
3. EBB often used this phrase. See letter 840, note 1.
4. “Witchcraft.”
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