Charlotte Elliot (Scotland)

This article is about the 19th-century Scottish poet. For the 19th-century English poet and hymn writer, see Charlotte Elliott (hymnist).

Lady Charlotte Elliot (22 July 1839 - 15 January 1880) was a Scottish poet.

Charlotte Elliot (1839-1880), Medusa, and other poems (1878). Forgotten Books, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.

Life

Youth and education

Elliot was born Charlotte Carnegie, in the parish of Farnell, Angus (possibly at Kinnaird Castle, Brechin), Scotland. She was a daughter of Sir James Carnegie, 5th baronet (1799-1849); and Charlotte (Lysons), daughter of Rev. Daniel Lysons. James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk, was her older brother.

In 1855, Charlotte was raised to the social rank of an earl's daughter by royal warrant, granting her the courtesy title of "Lady."

Adult life

In 1860, Charlotte married Thomas Fotheringham, who died in 1864. In 1868, Charlotte married her 2nd husband, Frederick Boileau Elliot. Frederick was the 5th son of admiral George Elliot (1784–1863) and Eliza Cecilia (Ness). His father was a younger brother of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto.

Charlotte died on 15 January 1880. Her husband died on 23 December of the same year. They were survived by a son, Gilbert Compton Elliot (1871-1931), who went on to serve in the Black Watch, reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

Writing

Her poems draw on religious and mythological themes, and often focus on women in demanding situations. Some resemble the work of her English contemporary Augusta Webster in their use of dramatic form to explore female subjectivity, and suggest at least a proto-feminist sensibility.

In 1867 she published her debut volume of poetry, Stella, and other poems, under the pseudonym "Florenz". The eponymous poem of the collection,Stella, is set in the Italian Peninsula. It features the doomed love of Count Marone and Stella. He is a man seeking Italian unification, she is a daughter of the Neapolitan aristocracy, which is resisting this cause. Her early death causes her lover to seek the perils of the battlefield, in an attempt to distract his mind. The subject matter is similar to "Maud" (1855) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Other poems of the collection seem focused on themes of "intense and painful experience", such as Desolate (concerning the emotions felt when a person is abandoned by a lover) and The Prayer of the Penitent (concerning the experience of shame before God).

A decade later, Charlotte published her 2nd volume of poetry: Medusa, and other poems (1878). It was published under her married name and dedicated to Frederick. The eponymous poem, Medusa, features the figure of Medusa from Classical mythology. The poem is sympathetic to Medusa, featuring its protagonist experiencing "days of despair" and "unspeakable woe" from the time of her transformation to her death at the hands of Perseus. The other poems of the collections are melancholic tales "on time, love and death".

A 3rd volume of poetry, Mary Magdalene, and other poems (1880), was published posthumously. According to her requests, only 50 copies of this collection were printed.

Publications

Poetry

• Stella, and other poems. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1867.
• Medusa, and other poems. London: C. Kegan Paul, 1878.
• Mary Magdalene, and other poems. Edinburgh: privately published, for the Earl of Southesk, 1880.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

• Anderson, William (1867), The Scottish Nation: Or the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland, Vol. III, A. Fullarton & Co., https://books.google.com/books?id=pcdPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA493 
• Burke, Bernard (1865), Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Harrison, https://books.google.com/books?id=ZU59tRkdl2MC&pg=PA769 
• Dod's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland: Including All the Titled Classes, Whittaker, 1870, https://books.google.com/books?id=-a9AAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA700 
• Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003), Burke's peerage, baronetage & knightage, clan chiefs, Scottish feudal barons, Wilmington: Burke's Peerage & Gentry, ISBN 978-0971196629 
• Reilly, Catherine W. (2000), Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860-1879: An annotated biobibliography, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0720123180, https://books.google.com/books?id=bzRDJeN4KxQC&pg=PA149 
• Sage, Lorna; Greer, Germaine; Showalter, Elaine, eds. (1999), The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521668132, https://books.google.com/books?id=NB59uc9_ss8C&pg=PA220 

External links

Poems

• "The Wife of Loki" in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895