Grief and mourning are universal human emotions; we feel our losses keenly. Grief unfolds in many ways, and even when the most acute pain is over the loss of a loved one can be felt for a lifetime. In the early stages we often mistake a face in a crowd for our lost loved one, think we hear their voice, or forget that they are gone and plan to tell them something. In our society we are sometimes uncomfortable accepting and dealing with another's grief. We expect people to get over their loss, move on, and keep their mourning private. This was not so in the nineteenth century. There were formal...

Godey's Lady's Book was one of the most widely circulated magazines in nineteenth century America. With Louis Godey as publisher and Sarah Josepha Hale as editor, the magazine became an American institution for over forty five years. Read by men and women alike, it boasted a subscriber list not only in every state and territory, but in foreign lands as well. Godey's is remembered today primarily for its fashion plates, but its readers found much more in it: each monthly issue included editorials, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry. This anthology series aims to collect and present some of...

The seasons are timeless. This volume presents fifty poems of the seasons from America's most popular 19th century monthly magazine, Godey's Lady's Book. The poems take us on a journey from the bare branches of early spring, to hot summer days and quiet summer evenings, to the first hints of autumn and into the howling winds and snows of winter. As the first plants begin to emerge from the ground in spring, we leave the warmth of our houses ready for a new beginning. Energized, we bask in longer and warmer days. Summer means outdoor fun and socializing, but it can also slow us down with its...

This ninth volume of the Godey's Poetry Anthology Series presents poems written to express heartbreak and sadness, regret, loss, and sometimes, starting anew. While the style of language and mode of expression bespeak an earlier time, the feelings will be familiar to a modern reader. The book consists of two distinct collections. Love's Endings reflects the varied emotions including grief, anger, relief, regret, or acceptance that can accompany the end of a relationship, whether that end is voluntary or involuntary, mutually desired or one-sided. Alone and Weary speaks of the feelings of...

"Potpourri" is the tenth and final volume in the Godey's Poetry Anthology Series. It presents a varied collection of poetic styles and themes both humorous and serious; as such, it is perhaps the volume most truly representative of Godey's poetry overall. From the beginning, the aim of this anthology project has been to rediscover and present voices from the past, giving new life to long-forgotten or overlooked poetry. By no means did every poem fit into the category of "great" poetry, but each of the 470 poems used in the series told us something about the lives and times of the poets and...

Shoreline is an anthology of selected short fiction, non-fiction, poetry & prose from The Association of Rhode Island Authors.