Mentoring in Four Nineteenth-Century Women Poets

Elisa Mercoeur (1808-1835), Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859), Louisa Siefert (1845-1877), and Louise Ackermann (1813-1890) had obstacles to overcome as women poets. The public image of women was damaged by the Revolution that defined their role as motherhood, and it was socially difficult for women to find the camaraderie and encouragement vital to their survival as writers. In spite of these difficulties four women poets managed to find several types of benefactors. In some instances, fellow writers gave encouragement as the novelist Mme d'Agoult (Daniel Stern) inspired Ackermann and as Hugo moved Siefert. At other times, non-writer mentors provided nurturing and moral support; for example, both Mercoeur and Siefert had mothers who guided their careers and edited their daughters' posthumous works. Certain mentors, such as Madame Récamier, were too busy to edit the work of others or to write anything themselves and functioned as facilitators of salons and sources of inspiration. (WNG)