Adams, Sarah Flower

(1805-1848)

   English poet, actress (playing Lady Macbeth in 1837), and Unitarian hymn-writer. She was one of the earliest feminists and contributed 13 hymns to the Unitarian Hymns and Anthems, published in 1841, and contributed to the first illustrated government report on Children in the Mines, 1842. Her hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" is supposed to have been the hymn the band on the RMS Titanic played as it sank after hitting an iceberg on 14 April 1912, although this is disputed. Her poem "The Mourners Came at Break of Day" tells the story of the women who visited the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday and joy of the Resurrection. Her poem "Summer Recollection" evokes feelings of a balmy summer's day, with bees gathering nectar from the lime trees and contented cows lying on the lush grass, chewing the cud. Some of her other poems: "He Sendeth Sun, He Sendeth Shower," "Love! Thou Makest All Things Even," "Part in Peace: Is Day Before Us?"

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. Columbia University Press, 2005 (http:// www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.