Jean Ingelow biography was a popular nineteenth century English Poetess.
Jean Ingelow, the English poetess and novelist, was born at Boston, Lincolnshire, England in 1820. She was the daughter of the town's banker, a man of superior intelligence. Her mother was of Scottish descent.
Jean was a shy and meek child and though she contributed verses and stories to magazines under the name of "Orris" as a young girl, her first published work didn't appear until she was thirty years old. This first book entitled "Poems" was a volume of poems, which she had been preparing for years. These poems struck the public's fancy and were readily accepted by the literary community, and she became famous. Three poems were especially noteworthy: "Divided", "High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire", and "Songs of Seven", which consisted of seven poems portraying seven epochs in the life of a woman. This volume, published in 1863 quickly ran through several editions and verses were set to music and sung in every drawing room in England and America.
After publishing another title "The Story of doom and Other Poems", Jean took up novel writing for a while and continued writing stories for children. Some of her most notable stories were: "Studies for Stories", "Poor Matt", "A Sister's Bye-Hours", "The Monitions of the Unseen", and "Poems of Love and Childhood".
Within ten years after she came into the public eye, the sale of her poems in America, alone, reached 93,000 and her volumes of poems a sale of 35,000.
Miss Ingelow was a woman of impeccable manners and was very hospitable. She was mild mannered and humble, regardless of her success, and never took on a superior air. Jean made her home in London after becoming a recognized authoress. Being a very charitable lady, for several years she gave dinners three times a week to twelve needy persons who had recently been released from the hospital. These she called "Copyright Dinners" and she used part of her income from the sales of her books to fund them.
