Caroline Atherton Mason

Caroline Atherton Briggs Mason (July 27, 1823 – June 13, 1890) was an American poet whose works include Do They Miss Me At Home? and The King's Quest. Many of her poems became popular hymns in the Unitarian church.

Caroline Atherton Mason
Born(1823-07-27)July 27, 1823
Marblehead, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJune 13, 1890(1890-06-13) (aged 66)
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.
OccupationPoet
Notable worksDo They Miss Me At Home?
The King's Quest
Utterance: or Private Voices to the Public Heart
Lost Ring and other Poems
SpouseCharles Mason

Early life

Mason was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the daughter of physician Dr. Calvin Briggs and Rebecca Briggs. She was educated at Bradford Academy in Bradford, Massachusetts,[1] and began writing when quite young. In 1852, her family moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Published works

Her first poems were published in the Salem Register under the name "Caro".[2] Mason was also published in The Congregationalist, The Liberal Christian, The Monthly Religious Magazine, The Independent and The Christian Union.[2] She contributed largely to the hymnology of the Unitarian church, and her poetry generally is strong in the didactic element.

She published a collection of poetry, Utterance: or Private Voices to the Public Heart in 1852 and a Sunday school story, Rose Hamilton in 1859.[3] In 1891, she published Lost Ring and other Poems in 1891.[4]

She contributed largely to the hymnology of the Unitarian church,[5][6] and her poetry generally is strong in the didactic element.

Major works

One of her early poems, Do They Miss Me At Home? was set to music by S.M. Grannis and published by mid-1852. It obtained immediate and widespread popularity in the United States and in England. Its popularity carried into the Civil War, where Mason's lyrics, written as a homesick girl away from home at school, readily translated to the plight of the soldiers on both sides, and was among the songs soldiers would sing.[7][8]

Several of Mason's poems were honored, notably “The King's Quest.”[9]

Personal life

Mason married Charles Mason, an attorney in Fitchburg, in 1853.[2]

Selected works
  • Do They Miss Me At Home?
  • The King's Quest
  • Utterance: or Private Voices to the Public Heart
  • Lost Ring and other Poems
  • I cannot walk in darkness long
  • 0 God. I thank Thee for each sight
  • The changing years, eternal God

References
  1. Mason, Caroline Atherton Briggs (1891). The Lost Ring: And Other Poems. Houghton, Mifflin. p. x.
  2. Perley, Sidney (1889). The Poets of Essex County, Massachusetts. S. Perley. p. 114.
  3. Colledge, William A. and Haskell, Nathan (1907). The New standard encyclopedia, Volume 7. Univ. Society.
  4. "The Lost Ring: And Other Poems". Internet Archives. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  5. Collins, Leo W. (2005). This is Our Church. Leo Collins. p. 176.
  6. Barrett, Faith and Miller, Cristanne (2005). "Words for the Hour": A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry. Univ of Massachusetts Press. p. 387.
  7. Hanaford, Phebe (1883). Daughters of America on Women of the Century. B.B. Russell Publishers. p. 235.
  8. Silber, Irwin (1960). Songs of the Civil War. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486284385.
  9. The Anglo-American Encyclopedia and Dictionary: Encyclopedia department (A-Z). 1904. p. 1729.

Sources
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