Norton, Caroline

(1808-1877)

(Pseudonym, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sheridan).

   Born in London, the daughter of Thomas Sheridan (see entry), her literary career took off in 1829 with The Sorrows of Rosalie: A Tale, with Other Poems. The fact that the work was praised by James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd" (see entry) brought her great satisfaction. Her marriage to the Honorable George Chapple Norton lasted from 1827 to 1830 and ended in lawsuit and countersuit. Her husband refused her access to her children, and her vigorous campaign for legal protection for married women eventually led to the Marriage and Divorce Act of 1857. She went on to support her family by writing for periodicals, as well as novels and poetry. Norton died in 1875 and his widow married Sir William Stirling-Maxwell in 1877 and died within a few months. A gifted artist and musician, she successfully set some of her own lyrics to music. Some of her poems: "As When from Dreams Awaking," "I Do Not Love Thee," "Marriage and Love," "The Arab to His Favorite Steed," "The King of Denmark's Ride," "The Widow to Her Son's Betrothed," "Weep Not for Him That Dieth."

   Sources: Best Loved Story Poems. Walter E. Thwing, ed. Garden City, 1941. Bibliography: Works by Caroline Norton (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/norton/ncbibliography.html). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author. html). Romanticism. Duncan Wu, ed. Blackwell, 1994. 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 Dream and Other Poems of Caroline Norton. Jonathan Wordsworth, ed. Woodstock Books, 2001. The Home Book of Modern Verse. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. Henry Holt, 1953. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Victorian Women Poets: An Anthology. Angela Leighton and Margaret Reynolds, ed. Blackwell, 1991.