Julia Ward Howe (1819 – 1910)

Julia Ward Howe was an American poet and author best known for writing The Battle Hymn of the Republic, but she was also an advocate for abolitionism and a social activist, particularly for women's suffrage.



Her first book of poetry, a compendium of emotional and person poetry called Passion-Flowers, was complied in secret and published anonymously in 1854 with help from Longfellow and Ticknor. Her husband was not pleased with the nearly erotic and emotional poetry and found it scandalous. Many of the reprints found some of the poems tweaked or retitled to soothe his ego, although he never truly forgave her for being a more successful poet and writer than himself.

Books by Julia Ward Howe