Frances Sargent Osgood

A negative review of a posthumous edition of Osgood's poems published by Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co. of New York is presented in this article. Much time is spent discussing the life of Frances S. Osgood and the writer's admiration of her gentle character, though he is quick to note that neither her life nor her poetry were extraordinary. Osgood's poetry was admired more for its "coquettishness" and "grace, tenderness, and sweet simplicity" than it was for its innovativeness. Even still, the main criticism of the new edition is directed at Osgood's style, which "does not evince a high order of genius," and at the fact that a few of her best poems were "missed" from the new collection. Two of Osgood's poems are printed within the review: "The Language of Gems" and "Fanny Ellsler."