Elinor Sweetman


Elinor Sweetman was a Victorian era Irish poet and author who worked with both her sisters.
She was born Elinor Mary Sweetman to Margaret Powell and Michael James Sweetman and lived in County Laois. Her father died when she was a child. The remaining family moved to Brussels in 1873. Her uncle was the novelist William Sweetman while her sisters, Agnes Sweetman and M. E. Francis were also writers.With her sisters she began two family magazines: the ‘Ivy Home Magazine’ and ‘Ivy Home Library’.Her poetry was used in several of her sisters novels.She remained unmarried and was one of her mother's heirs after her death in 1912.
Sweetman was a poet and writer published in magazines and periodicals as well as in collections of poetry and her own folios. Her work was often illustrated by well known artists of the day including Arthur Wallis Mills and Elizabeth Gulland. Though she has largely been ignored as a writer she was critically celebrated at the time and is a clear example of the poetry of women at the time discussing religion and romance.

Selected works

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