Legends and lyrics

by Adelaide Anne Procter, Charles Dickens

Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864) was an English poet. She was the eldest daughter of the poet Bryan Procter. She took much interest in social questions affecting women. She wrote the well-known songs Cleansing Fires and The Lost Chord, and among her many hymns are I do not ask, O Lord, that Life may be, and My God, I thank Thee who hast made. She began to contribute to Household Words in 1853 and adopted the name of "Mary Berwick, " so that the editor, Charles Dickens, should not be prejudiced by his friendship for the Procters. Many of her poems were first published in Household Words and All the Year Round and afterwards collected under the title of Legends and Lyrics (1858-1861), which was considered as her principal work. Her unambitious verses dealing with simple emotional themes in a simple manner have a charm which is scarcely explicable on the ground of high literary merit, but which is due rather to the fact that they are the cultured expression of an earnest and beneficent life.

Genres: Poetry

364 pages, Nook

First published January 1, 1858

Reviews

[Benedict Reid · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slog. I would go for months at a time not opening the book. While sometimes the charming naive worldview of the author was beautiful, often the poems were simply saccharine and irritating. I think more than anything it made me aware of how disconnected from reality the rich Christians of Victorian England really were. The only thing that Adelaide get's exercised about is the treatment of the Irish Catholics, but even there she has an emphasis on the beauty and "goodness" of the noble poor. Without doubt, an attitude which prevents any momentum for political change (the only way that could have prevented the Irish famine).
Much of the poetry would be called doggerel, but at it's best it overcame it's simply rhyming schemes to present a unique image and worldview (which given I oppose the poet's worldview has to be acknowledged as a substantive achievement).