My thanks to Professor Margaret Stetz, Dr. Gregory Mackie and Chris Dubbs for their inspiration and help in researching Florence Earle Coates
Florence was born on 1st July 1850 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America. Her parents were George H. Earle Senior and his wife, Frances (known as Fanny) Van Leer Earle. Florence’s paternal grandfather was the abolitionist and philanthropist Thomas Earle.
Educated in Lexington, Massachusetts before going to Europe to study at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Paris, France, Florence went on to study music in Brussels, Belgium.
In 1872, Florence married William Nicholson and the couple had a daughter - Alice Earle Nicholson - who was born on 21st October 1873. William died in 1877 and on 7th January 1879, Florence married Edward Hornor Coates at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Edward Coates adopted Florence and William's daughter. Florence and Edward had one child together - Josephine Wisner Coates – but she died on 5th March 1881. Edward Coates was President of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1890 to 1906.
Florence served as a leader in several social organizations, including the Society of Mayflower Descendants.
British poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888) encouraged and inspired Florence in her writing and was a guest on several occasions at the Coates' Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania home "Willing Terrace," when he was in Philadelphia. Florence and Matthew Arnold first met in New York at the home of Andrew Carnegie during Arnold's first lecture tour of America, and they became friends. That first tour lasted from October 1883 to March 1884 and in December 1883, Arnold lectured at Association Hall in Philadelphia. His second tour of America took place in 1886 and found him in Philadelphia in early June, where he stayed with Florence and Edward.
Matthew Arnold wrote letters to Florence in 1887 and 1888 from his home at Pains Hill Cottage in Cobham, Surrey, England, describing his remembrance of and fondness for her "tulip-trees and maples."
Many of Florence’s poems were published in magazines such as the “Atlantic Monthly”, “Scribner's Magazine”, “The Literary Digest”, “Lippincott's”, “The Century Magazine” and “Harper's”. Some of her poems were set to music by the American composer Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) - see example left.
Writing about Florence in “Book News Monthly” (December 1917) V. 36 No. 4, American writer Elizabeth Clendenning Ring (1861–1940) tells us: "... Mrs. Coates was abroad in the turbulent days that marked the outbreak of the amazing war and in a poem, sensitively vivid, describes the scene in the Place de la Concorde, August 14th, 1914".
“Place de la Concorde” by Florence Earle Coates - August 14, 1914
(Since the bombardment of Strasburg, August 14, 1870, her statue in Paris, representing Alsace, has been draped in mourning by the French people.)
Near where the royal victims fell
In days gone by, caught in the swell
Of a ruthless tide
Of human passion, deep and wide:
There where we two
A Nation’s later sorrow knew —
To-day, O friend! I stood
Amid a self-ruled multitude
That by nor sound nor word
Betrayed how mightily its heart was stirred.
A memory Time never could efface —
A memory of Grief —
Like a great Silence brooded o’er the place;
And men breathed hard, as seeking for relief
From an emotion strong
That would not cry, though held in check too long.
One felt that joy drew near —
A joy intense that seemed itself to fear —
Brightening in eyes that had been dull,
As all with feeling gazed
Upon the Strasburg figure, raised
Above us — mourning, beautiful!
Then one stood at the statue’s base, and spoke —
Men needed not to ask what word;
Each in his breast the message heard,
Writ for him by Despair,
That evermore in moving phrase
Breathes from the Invalides and Père Lachaise —
Vainly it seemed, alas!
But now, France looking on the image there,
Hope gave her back the lost Alsace.
A deeper hush fell on the crowd:
A sound — the lightest — seemed too loud
(Would, friend, you had been there!)
As to that form the speaker rose,
Took from her, fold on fold,
The mournful crape, gray-worn and old,
Her, proudly, to disclose,
And with the touch of tender care
That fond emotion speaks,
’Mid tears that none could quite command,
Placed the Tricolor in her hand,
And kissed her on both cheeks!
Edward Coates died on 23rd December 1921. Named the Poet Laureate of Pennsylvania in 1915, Florence died on 6th April 1927 in Philadelphia.
Florence’s WW1 collection “Pro Patria” was published privately in 1917.
Several other war-related poems not included in the 1917 collection were published in various magazines of the time and they described the selfless sacrifices made by soldiers and citizens alike for the cause of freedom and liberty.
“In War-Time” by Florence Earle Coates
(An American Homeward-Bound)
Further and further we leave the scene
Of war — and of England’ s care;
I try to keep my mind serene —
But my heart stays there;
For a distant song of pain and wrong
My spirit doth deep confuse,
And I sit all day on the deck, and long —
And long for news!
I seem to see them in battle-line —
Heroes with hearts of gold,
But of their victory a sign
The Fates withhold;
And the hours too tardy-footed pass,
The voiceless hush grows dense
’Mid the imaginings, alas!
That feed suspense.
Oh, might I lie on the wind, or fly
In the willful sea-bird’s track,
Would I hurry on, with a homesick cry —
Or hasten back?
Portrait of Florence Earle Coates, painted by American artist Violet Oakley (1874 – 1961)
Photograph of Matthew Arnold photographer unknown
Photograph of Place de la Concorde, WW1 by American photographer Fred F. Marshall
Sources:
Catherine W. Reilly "English Poetry of the First World War: A Bibliography (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1978) page 394
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Elizabeth_Clendenning_Ring "Florence Earle Coates: Some Phases of her Life and Poetry" (1917) by Elizabeth Clendenning Ring (1861–1940)
https://poets.org/poet/florence-earle-coates
http://www.vanleerplus.org/9william.htm
Photo of Place de la Concorde, Paris, WW1 by Fred F. Marshall
NOTE: Professor Margaret Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware;
Dr. Gregory Mackie is Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of English Language and Literatures at The University of British Columbia and
Chris Dubbs is a World War 1 Historian from Philadelphia
