In honor of World Poetry Day, we would like to share with you our favorite poet, Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835 – 1894). Born on June 29, 1835 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Celia spent that majority of her life at the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. As a young girl, her father, Thomas Laighton, moved the family to White Island where he was the lighthouse keeper. It was during those solitary days of island life, surrounded by the ocean, with the mainland a distant line on the horizon, that she became a keen observer of nature. This connection to nature was later reflected in Celia’s poetry and art. Eventually her family moved from White Island to the nearby island of Appledore, where her father built a grand hotel. There she married her tutor, Levi Thaxter, and moved to the mainland.
It was her longing for home, that inspired Celia Laighton Thaxter’s first published poem, “Land-Locked” (1861) in the Atlantic Monthly. The following is a stanza from that poem:
“…To feel the wind, sea-scented, on my cheek,
To catch the sound of dusky flapping sail
And dip of oars, and voices on the gale
Afar off, calling low, — my name they speak!…”
Celia eventually returned to her beloved Isles of Shoals to help her aging parents as the hostess to their grand hotel. There she surrounded herself with the great poets, authors, artists, and musicians of the nineteenth century in her cottage parlor on Appledore. During this time Celia’s own reputation as a poet gained popularity with her poems’ publication in periodicals and books. In fact, Celia Laighton Thaxter became one of the most widely read female poets during the second half of the nineteenth century in New England and beyond. Some of her poems were even turned into popular songs. So popular that the Library of Congress has a recording of “Goodbye, Sweet Day” in its collections from 1919. Although many of her poems may seem dated now, that popularity continued to some degree into the early twentieth century with her poem, “The Sandpiper” (1883). Our Great Grammy fondly recalled learning that poem in school, and took great delight in reciting it decades later, especially the opening verse:
“Across the lonely beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I,
And fast I gather, bit by bit,
The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
The wild waves reach their hands for it,
The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,
As up and down the beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I…”
However for our Mom, the poem by Celia Laighton Thaxter that she recites the most is “The Sunrise Never Failed Us Yet” (1896). This poem of hope has brought her comfort in times of sorrow and in times of joy. We’ve quoted stanzas from this poem often, but today here is the complete poem:
“Upon the sadness of the sea
The sunset broods regretfully;
From the far lonely spaces, slow
Withdraws the wistful afterglow.
So out of life the splendor dies;
So darken all the happy skies;
So gathers twilight, cold and stern;
But overhead the planets burn;
And up the east another day
Shall chase the bitter dark away;
What though our eyes with tears be wet?
The sunrise never failed us yet.
The blush of dawn may yet restore
Our light and hope and joy once more.
Sad soul, take comfort, nor forget
That sunrise never failed us yet!”
For those who wish to learn more, we recommend the book, Beyond the Garden Gate: The Life of Celia Laighton Thaxter, by Norma H. Mandel (2004). To read more of Celia Laighton Thaxter’s poetry, visit PoemHunter.com. Today White Island is a New Hampshire Historic site, but visiting it is a challenge. However, you can get a lovely view of it from Star Island, where visitors are welcome. Although limited, the Shoals Marine Lab also offer tours of Celia Laighton Thaxter’s reconstructed garden on Appledore Island. Please note dogs are NOT allowed on any of the islands, but you can get a good view of them from the mainland on the beaches of Rye, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine.
