The Poetry of Sarah Orne Jewett: 'There was just the last of the sunset left''

Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett was born on 3rd September 1849 in South Berwick, Maine, to a family that had resided in New England for several generations.

From early childhood Jewett suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and one remedy was frequent walks which contributed to her life-long love of nature.

She was primarily educated at Miss Olive Rayne's school and then the Berwick Academy from where she graduated in 1866. But much of her time was also spent reading from the extensive collection of books in the family library.

In 1868 at age 19, she was published ‘Jenny Garrow's Lovers’ in the Atlantic Monthly, and from this grew a reputation that was lauded and admired by both her captivated audience and such other noted writers as William Dean Howells.

As well as novels and short stories she also wrote children’s books and poetry volumes. Jewett was also admired for the strong female characters who were as intelligent and able as any man around them.

In her personal life Jewett was attracted and attached to several women. Many of her poems reveal the intensity of her feelings towards them. Whether Jewett found physical love with them is open to debate but she often did find devoted and loving friendship, humor and literary encouragement. From 1881, after the death of James Fields, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, she set up home with his widow, Annie, for the rest of her life in what was termed ‘a Boston Marriage’; the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of male financial support.

On her birthday in 1902, Jewett was involved in a carriage accident that effectively ended her literary career.

In March 1909 Sarah Orne Jewett was paralyzed by a stroke, and after another on 24th June she died in her South Berwick home. She was 59.

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