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Julia Ward Howe

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Poet

The Resume

    (May 27, 1819-October 17, 1910)
    Born in New York City, New York
    Birth name was Julia Ward
    Married physician/educator Samuel Gridley Howe
    Abolitionist, suffragette and poet
    Wrote the poetry collections 'Passion Flowers' (1854), 'Words for the Hour' (1857), 'Later Lyrics' (1866) and 'From Sunset Ridge: Poems Old and New' (1898)
    Wrote lyrics for 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' (1861)
    Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1970)

Why she might be annoying:

    She suffered frequent bouts of depression.
    Her husband opposed her publishing her poems.
    She unsuccessfully tried to organize an international women's peace congress in response to the Franco-Prussian War.
    She looked like Queen Victoria.
    Despite a long and varied career, she is remembered pretty much just for 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    In addition to English, she was fluent in French, Italian, German, Greek and Latin.
    In her journal, she wrote 'I have never known my husband to approve of any act of mine which I myself valued. Books—poems—essays—everything has been contemptible in his eyes because not his way of doing things.'
    Although her husband opposed her working outside the home, he relied on her as a writer and editor for his abolitionist paper 'The Commonwealth.'
    'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' became one of America's most popular patriotic songs.
    She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1908).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 167 Votes: 52.10% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 21 Votes: 52.38% Annoying