Susan Marr Spalding (, Marr; July 4, 1841 â March 12, 1908) was an American poet of the long nineteenth century. Spalding was best known and least known by her poem, "Fate". The poem itself was widely copied and claimed, and its title was sometimes changed to "Kismet", but not until 1893 was Spalding's right of authorship absolutely settled.
Susan Marr was born in Bath, Maine, July 4, 1841. Her youth was passed in Bath, and she was educated at one of the best New England seminaries. After her parents died when she was still a girl, she moved to New York City to live in the family of her uncle, a clergyman.
In 1860, at 18, she married 32-year-old Rodolphus Spalding, a literary man. Residing a few years in New York, they removed to Philadelphia, where, shortly after, her husband died. She continued living there, alternating between it and her home town, becoming involved with various subjects. Her time was passed mostly among relatives and friends in answer to the demands made upon her as nurse and counselor.
Her poetical career dates back to her girlhood. Her poems were artistic productions, and she excelled in sonnet writing, ranking among the most successful sonnet writers of the day. She contributed to many prominent periodicals.
Spalding was best known and least known by her poem, "Fate". The poem itself was widely copied and claimed, and its title was sometimes changed to "Kismet", but not until 1893 was Spalding's right of authorship absolutely settled. Edwin Milton Royle, who used it in his play of Friends, was inundated with letters from persons purporting to be its author, so that he placed Spalding's name upon all his programmes. The lines first appeared in print in the New York Graphic in 1876. Spalding said,â "I happen to have still in my possession the note from William Augustus Croffut âÂÂone of The Graphic's editorsâ accepting the poem, speaking of it in the highest terms and expressing his regret that the New York Graphic could not pay for poetry, which letter has more than once quenched a too-insistent claimant. It is, by the way, the only bit of blank verse I ever wrote." "Fate" was set to music by Emma Lore.
Commonly, she wintered in Wilmington, Delaware, but in 1894, she made her home in Boston, and then traveled abroad. Spalding died in West Medford, Massachusetts, March 12, 1908.
According to Current Literature Publishing Company (1895):âÂÂ"Her sonnets have been characterized by a critic as among the finest in the English language. A singular charm pervades all her verse. Its art was always sure, her methods of composition being invariably conscientious and painstaking, while its spirit âÂÂwhether dealing with pathos or passionâ is of rare grace and beauty. One sonnet in particular, "The Singers", fairly takes one's breath away with its pity and power."
Charles Wells Moulton positvely reviewed her work, writing in 1890 that: