BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Celia Laighton Thaxter, 1835-1894, was an American poet and prose
writer. Born Celia Laighton in Portsmouth, N.H., she spent her
childhood on White Island Lighthouse, part of Isles of Shoals, and
Appledore Island. At 16 she married Levi Thaxter and had three sons,
Karl, John, and Roland. The family spent winters on the mainland in
Massachusetts, where Celia felt imprisoned by domestic duties in a city
house.
Her first poem, "Land-locked," was published in 1860 and was an
immediate success. Soon she became widely published, with poems
appearing in Harper's, Scribner's, and the Atlantic. With the means to
spend more time at her family's resort on Appledore Island, she enjoyed
visits there from prominent artists, literary figures, and musicians.
However, her preferred literary subjects continued to be drawn from the
natural world. She is best known today for "An Island Garden" and
"Among the Isles of Shoals."
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
The collection contains Thaxter's letters, poems, prose fragments, an unfinished novel, scrapbooks, and first appearances in print.