ABSTRACT
Felicia Dorothea Hemans (pronounced Hemmans) was born in Liverpool, where her Irish father, George Browne, was a merchant. Her mother, Felicity Dorothea, née Wagner, was of German origin. In 1800, after her father suffered business reverses, the family moved to North Wales, a country Hemans came to love, and here the unusually gifted child (with a phenomenal memory) learned Latin, drawing and modern languages. Although she never travelled abroad, she later wrote many poems about other European countries, based mainly on her reading. She grew up to be one of the most widely read and influential poets of the nineteenth century, both at home in Britain, and in America (where she was especially well loved).
