Julia A. Moore

The Sweet Singer of Michigan
1847 – 1920

Michigan Governor Engler proclaims Julia A. Moore Week, December 1 – 7, 1997.

Mrs. Julia A. Moore – Michigan Laureate poetist.

Her books included: The Sentimental Song Book, 1876

The sentimental song book: with numerous additions and corrections by the author, 1877

A Few Choice Words to the Public, with New and Original Poems, 1878

The Sweet Singer of Michigan: Poems by Mrs. Julia A. Moore, 1928

The authors’ daringly experimental metrics and rhymes, her avant-garde grammar, the piquancy of her use of proper nouns, and her bold coinages all suggest themselves as topics for exploration. So do her relation to the rich musical culture of her contemporary America, her politics and views on public events, her eschatological vision, and the mysterious sources of her Weltschmerz. Her gnomic "Preface" alone, with its subtle imbrication of the concepts of "truth" and "poetry" and it prescient contribution to the "death of the author" debate, amply repays the closes explication. Surely there is a rich lode here for young scholar-critics to mine.