Sarah Helen Whitman
Sarah Helen Whitman.
Sarah Helen Whitman [1. 19. 1803 - 6. 27. 1873] was an American poetess, essayist, and literary critic who spent the majority of her life in Providence, Rhode Island, where she led a literary salon, participated in progressive educational reform and abolitionist societies, and served as a leader in the Rhode Island suffragette movement. An avid worshipper of beauty, Whitman was exceptionally well read and delighted in creating, partaking in, analyzing, and defending artistic spirit wherever she discovered it.
Perhaps best known to modern readers for her brief engagement to Edgar Allan Poe in the fall of 1848, Whitman served not only as Poe’s muse during those last months of his life, but also proved his staunchest defender in the aftermath of his death. Her publication Poe and His Critics (1860) not only illustrated her own aesthetic and intellectual prowess, but also catapulted her to the forefront of Poe studies. Indeed, her careful collection of Poe memorabilia and nuanced exploration of his tortured movements resulted in her slow assumption of the role of expert, and she spent her later life aiding numerous of his biographers in their pursuit of an accurate estimate of her Poe.
