Florence Earle Coates

Florence Earle Coates

Florence Earle Coates, pre-1916
Born (1850-07-01)July 1, 1850
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died April 6, 1927(1927-04-06) (aged 76)
Hahnemann Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation Poet
Philanthropist
Spouse Edward Hornor Coates
Signature

Florence Van Leer Earle Nicholson Coates (July 1, 1850 – April 6, 1927) was an American poet.

Biography

She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Granddaughter of noted abolitionist and philanthropist Thomas Earle, and eldest daughter of Philadelphia lawyer George H. Earle, Sr. and Mrs. Frances ("Fanny") Van Leer Earle, Mrs. Coates gained notoriety both at home and abroad for her works of poetry—nearly three-hundred of which were published in literary magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, Scribner's Magazine, The Literary Digest, Lippincott's, The Century Magazine, and Harper's. Many of her poems were set to music by composers such as Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (Amy Cheney Beach), Clayton Johns, and Charles Gilbert Spross. She attended school in New England under the instruction of abolitionist and teacher Theodore Dwight Weld, and would further her education abroad at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Paris (Rue de Varenne),[1] and by studying music in Brussels under noted instructors of the day.

Mrs. Coates, pre-1894
Tulip-tree

"My remembrance of our last visit and of your tulip-trees and maples I shall never lose..."—Matthew Arnold, in a letter to Mrs. Coates[1]

  1. ^ Letter from Matthew Arnold to Florence Earle Coates dated 24 February 1888.

Literary and social critic Matthew Arnold both encouraged and inspired Mrs. Coates' writing of poetry. He was a guest at the Coates' Germantown home when his lecture tours brought him to Philadelphia. Coates and Arnold first met in New York—during Arnold's first visit and lecture tour of America—at the home of Andrew Carnegie, "where they formed a lasting friendship."[2] The tour (which lasted from October 1883 to March 1884) brought Arnold to Philadelphia in December 1883, where he lectured at Association Hall on the topics of the "Doctrine of the Remnant" and on "Emerson."[3] His second visit and tour of America took place in 1886, and brought him to Philadelphia in early June where he was again hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Coates and spoke on the topic of "Foreign Education" at the University of Pennsylvania chapel.[4] Arnold wrote to Mrs. Coates in 1887[5] and 1888[6] from his home at Pains Hill Cottage in Cobham, Surrey, England describing his remembrance of and fondness for her "tulip-trees and maples" at her Germantown home, "Willing Terrace." Rarely did Mrs. Coates write or publish prose work, but in April 1894 and again in December 1909, she dedicated her pen to remembrances of her mentor in issues of the Century and Lippincott's magazines respectively.

The Coates' often spent their summer months in the Adirondacks, where they maintained "Camp Elsinore"—their summer camp by the Upper St. Regis Lake. It was there that they entertained, rested and escaped the humidity of Philadelphia summers, welcoming friends such as Otis Skinner, Violet Oakley, Henry Mills Alden, and Agnes Repplier.[7] In the early 1900s (decade), the Coates' seasonally opened their camp to Anna Roosevelt Cowles ("Bamie")—elder sister of Theodore Roosevelt. Among Mrs. Cowles' visitors during her stays at Elsinore was Alice Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter.[8] Many of Mrs. Coates' nature poems were inspired by the flora and fauna of the Adirondacks. Of her "spot in the mountains," Mrs. Coates sings:

Upper St. Regis Lake

 There's a lake upon
 the mountains...—FEC


There's a cabin in the mountains, where the fare, dear,
      Is frugal as the cheer of Arden blest;
But contentment sweet and fellowship are there, dear,
      And Love, that makes the feast he honors—best!

A platinum print photograph of the poet.

In the March 1913 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, noted anthologist and poet, William Stanley Braithwaite (1878–1962), gives a detailed 9-page review of Mrs. Coates' poetry, relating how "she draws from the Olympian world figures that typify some motive or desire in human conduct, and in the modern world the praise of men and women, heroic in attainment or sacrifice; or laments events that effect social and ethical progress, showing how beneficently she has brought her art, without modifying in the least its abstract function as a creator of beauty and pleasure, into the service of profound and vital problems."[9] Much of Mrs. Coates' later published work was written during the years spanning World War I and showcased her concern for such "profound and vital problems" as her voice joined the chorus of 'singers' in support of American involvement in the war—evidenced in her privately published pamphlet of war poetry, Pro Patria (1917). Mrs. Coates also penned several other works of fugitive verse, much of which is patriotic and war-related, describing the selfless sacrifices made by soldiers and citizens alike for the cause of freedom and liberty.

Invitation to the 1895-96 Browning Society elections, the year Mrs. Coates was elected president.
Edward Hornor Coates (1903) by Charles Grafly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Gift of Mrs. Coates to PAFA in 1923.

Florence was a founder of the Contemporary Club of Philadelphia in 1886; one of twenty founders of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania[10] in 1896—herself being a ninth generation descendant of Pilgrim John Howland;[11][12] and twice president of the Browning Society of Philadelphia from 1895 to 1903, and again from 1907 to 1908. In 1915, Florence was unanimously elected poet laureate of Pennsylvania by the state's Federation of Women's Clubs.[13]

Digital drawing of the headstones of Mrs. Coates and her husband at the Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) churchyard in Bryn Mawr, PA.

She married first, William Nicholson (28 September 1872)—who died on 9 September 1877. On 7 January 1879, she married Edward Hornor Coates at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Mr. Coates would eventually adopt Florence's daughter from her first marriage—Alice Earle Nicholson (born 21 October 1873). Florence and Edward had one child together in 1881, but the baby—Josephine Wisner Coates[14]—died in infancy on 5 March 1881. Mr. Coates was president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1890 to 1906. He died on 23 December 1921. In 1923, Mrs. Coates presented The Edward H. Coates Memorial Collection to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The exhibition, representing French and American schools,[15] included 27 paintings and 3 pieces of sculpture, and was displayed from 4 November 1923 to 10 January 1924. Florence died at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia on 6 April 1927. She is buried at the Church of the Redeemer churchyard in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania alongside her husband and her brother George Howard Earle, Jr. and many of his descendants, including his son, former Pennsylvania Governor, George Howard Earle III—Florence's nephew.[16]

List of works

Hymn written for the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1900)
POEMS. (1898)
MINE AND THINE. (1904)
LYRICS OF LIFE. (1909)
THE UNCONQUERED AIR AND OTHER POEMS. (1912)
POEMS. 2 vols. (1916)[17]
PRO PATRIA. (1917) Privately published.
Fugitive verse.
On Matthew Arnold. (1894, 1909)
INDEX OF TITLES
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
MAGAZINES
Musical compositions.
Other works.

References

  1. ↑ The Sacré Cœur (Sacred Heart) in Paris, France was a convent school for young girls run by nuns that fell to the French government as a result of the "religious orders" law of 1904, which involved the separation of church and state, and prohibited religious orders from teaching. The site of the former convent is now the Rodin Museum.
  2. ↑ Notable Women of Pennsylvania (1947), edited by Gertrude B. Biddle and Sarah D. Lowrie.
  3. ↑ "Matthew Arnold on the Doctrine of the Remnant." Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 December 1883.
  4. ↑ "Reception to Matthew Arnold." Philadelphia Inquirer, 11 June 1886.
  5. ↑ Letter from Matthew Arnold to Florence Earle Coates dated 29 January 1887.
  6. ↑ Letter from Matthew Arnold to Florence Earle Coates dated 24 February 1888.
  7. ↑ "Florence Earle Coates: Some Phases of Her Life and Poetry" by Elizabeth Clendenning Ring. Book News Monthly (December 1917)
  8. ↑ New York Times, 28 June, 19 & 26 July, and 30 August 1903. Mrs. Cowles' stays are also mentioned (along with a photograph) in Lilian Rixey's biographical book, Bamie: Theodore Roosevelt's Remarkable Sister.
  9. ↑ A Foremost American Lyrist: An Appreciation by William Stanley Braithwaite
  10. ↑ The Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (SMDPA)
  11. ↑ John TILLEY (passenger) married Elizabeth CARVER; and had Elizabeth TILLEY, who married John HOWLAND (passenger); and had Desire HOWLAND, who married Capt John GORHAM; and had Lt. Col. John GORHAM, who married Mary OTIS; and had Stephen GORHAM, who married Elizabeth GARDNER; and had Susannah GORHAM, who married Daniel PADDACK; and had Deborah PADDACK, who married George HUSSEY; and had Uriel HUSSEY, who married Phebe FOLGER; and had Mary HUSSEY, who married Thomas EARLE; and had George Hussey EARLE, Sr., who married Ellen Frances VAN LEER; and had Florence Van Leer EARLE
  12. ↑ "Register of Members" (Philadelphia: Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) 1996, p. 57.
  13. ↑ Walker, Robert H. "Coates, Florence Earle." Notable American Women:1607-1950. Cambridge, MA:Belknap Press of the Harvard Univ. Press, 1974:354.
  14. ↑ likely named after Josephine Wisner, great-great granddaughter of Henry Wisner—delegate of the 1st and 2nd Continental Congress and among signers of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. Josephine Wisner's mother, Eleanor Bowne Hornor, was Florence Earle Coates' husband's second cousin.
  15. ↑ Philadelphia: A Guide to the Nation's Birthplace. Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1937. p. 456.
  16. ↑ The Lower Merion Historical Society website (see Coates, Florence Earle).
  17. ↑ Historically listed and referenced as a "Collected edition," Robert H. Walker—in his biographical sketch of Mrs. Coates ("Coates, Florence Van Leer Earle Nicholson." Notable American women: a biographical dictionary (1971, 1974 (third printing); pp. 353-4)—notes that the two-volume set is "really selected."

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.