Author
Robert Southey is documented in Fuller’s letters, books, published essays, journals, reading notebooks, and manuscripts (1825–1846). 15 distinct works are named, most often in Modern British Poets, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “excerpted”.
Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this author is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →
Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had Robert Southey’s work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.
“As to Southey, I am steeped to the lips in enjoyment. I am glad I did not know this poet earlier”
Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · 1836
MERGED 2026-10-11: absorbed duplicate witness(es) re619 (Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (sections), Mem-2-03 l.6910-6919; tier A; same passage) — counted once here. Explicit 'I am steeped to the lips in enjoyment' of Southey's poetry, indicating active reading.
“Of human form divine was he, The immortal youth of heaven who floated by, Even such as that divinest form shall be In those blest stages of our mortal race, When no infirmity, Low thought, nor base desire, nor wasting care Deface the semblance of our heavenly sire — The wings of eagle or of cherubim Had seemed unworthy him; Angelic power and dignity and grace Were in his glorious pennons; from the neck Down to the ankle reached their swelling web Richer than robes of Tyrian dye, that deck Imperial majesty:”
This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.
Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.
“I have long wished to read Southey's Paraguay, but always forget it when I am in a proper place.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Notes on Burdon, Hugo, Child, and Jewsbury." Houghton Library, Harvard University.
“As to Southey, I am steeped to the lips in enjoyment. I am glad I did not know this poet earlier; for I am now just ready to receive his truly exalting influences in some degree.”
Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. I. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.
“We talked of Southey's Life of Cowper. I had not read it, and he told me about it. Was satisfied that Newton pressed Cowper too hard. 'It is a sad book, said he. I do not like Southey.”
“I could not read through Roderick, – I do not know the disciple – I have not read Van Areteevelde.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Journal December 1836." Houghton Library, Harvard University; MS Am 1086; Box 3.
“From Southey's poems. Beautiful description. We reached a green and sunny place, so fair / As well with long lost Eden might compare.”
Beautiful description.' and attributes it at the end to 'Poet's Pilgrimage.' The passage describes an idealized paradise-garden with cedars, cypress, olive, bay, rose of Sharon, violet, lotus, and birdsong.
“The ship of heaven! / The ship of heaven, instinct with thought, displayed / Its living sail and glides along the sky [...] Kehama.”
Fuller excerpts multiple substantial passages from Southey's Hindu epic, all attributed 'Kehama.' at the end of each passage.
“An arrow's flight above that mountain stream / There was a little glade [...] Roderick.”
“The Moon is bright, the sea is calm / The little boat rides safely [...] Thalaba.”
“How beautiful, beneath the bright blue sky, / The billows heave!”
“All that meets the bodily sense I deem / Symbolical, one mighty alphabet / For infant minds [...] Joan of Arc.”
Fuller copies two passages from Southey's Joan of Arc (1796): (1) the symbolism/allegory passage on p18 (attributed 'Joan of Arc'); (2) the 'For me I know' self-vindication passage on p25.
“From Southey's life of Wesley. The Creek Indians being exhorted [...] Whitefield.”
Fuller, Margaret. "Notebook: Bouquet, 1836–1837." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (43); Box 6 (43).
“I had thought it an unusually delicate thought for Southey "Let me no longer suffer hope in Heaven;”
Fuller, Margaret. "Starry Night Meditation." Boston Public Library Archives & Special Collections; MS Am. 1450; Box: 3, Folder: 129.
Inferred Fuller names Southey explicitly and quotes a line she attributes to him: 'Let me no longer suffer hope in Heaven.' The canonical text in Southey's Thalaba the Destroyer, Book XII, reads: 'Let me not longer suffer hope in heaven!' — spoken by Oneiza's voice from Heaven to Thalaba, urging him to complete his quest.
“Perhaps there she will meet with some young descendants of Madoc, to be her friends”
Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the Lakes, in 1843. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1844.
Inferred Fuller alludes to the legend of Madoc (Madog), the Welsh prince said to have discovered America in the 12th century, whose supposed Welsh-Indian descendants were a popular legend on the American frontier..
“I was reminded of Southey's Kehama”
Inferred Named explicitly as 'Southey's Kehama' — Robert Southey's epic poem The Curse of Kehama (1810), which features a powerful father-daughter relationship (Ladurlad and Kailyal).
“the feelings of the mother, at the birth of a female child, resemble those of the Paraguay woman, described by Southey as lamenting in such heart-breaking tones that her mother did not kill her”
Inferred Named in context of 'the Paraguay woman... described by Southey as lamenting in such heart-breaking tones'; likely from Southey's History of Brazil. Named explicitly as 'Southey.' The Paraguay woman anecdote is cited in the context of Madame Necker's discussion, which quotes this passage. Southey's History of Brazil (1810-19) contains ethnographic material on South American women.
Fuller, Margaret. Woman in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Greeley & McElrath, 1845.
“as in "Thalaba," shows a faith in the benignity ... last stage of Thalaba's journey to the Domdaniel Caves”
“in the "Curse of Kehama," the sea-palace of Baly, "The Glen-" ... extract in a note to the "Curse of Kehama”
“Roderick,”
“In "Thalaba" and "Joan of Arc," he”
“The world at large takes its impression of the Wesleys from Southey. A humbler historian has scarce a chance to be heard beside one so rich in learning and talent.”
Also reprinted in New-York Daily Tribune. Counted once, at its first appearance.
Inferred Fuller names only 'Southey' without a specific title, but there is only one major Southey work on the Wesleys: The Life of Wesley; and the Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820), his most famous and influential work on the subject. Fuller has read it and comments on it analytically — she knows it well enough to say it 'fails to convey the true spiritual sense' though 'fair in the intention.'
Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.
“We have long delayed acknowledging the receipt of this book, hoping for time to do it justice”
“The Life of “My Cid,” in Southey’s beautiful arrangement, has hitherto been accessible to only a few among us”
Fuller, Margaret. "Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish . . ." New-York Daily Tribune, 12 February 1846.
“Such are Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth.”
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p92; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
“or the father, as in " Thalaba," shows a faith in the benignity and holiness of his lost daughter, which the lover, who had given up for her so high a destiny, wanted; — or, as in "Roderick," the miserable, sinful child wanders back to relieve himself from the load of pollution at the feet of a sainted mother; always — always he speaks from a full, a sanctified soul, in tones of thrilling melody.”
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p94; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
“As specimens of his best manner, I would mention the last stage of Thalaba's journey to the Domdaniel Caves, and, in the " Curse of Kehama," the sea-palace of Baly, " The Glendoveer," and " The Ship of Heaven.”
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p95; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
“The ship of heaven, instinct with thought displayed Its living sail and glides along the sky, On either side, in wavy tide, The clouds of morn along its path divide; The winds that swept in wild career on high, Before its presence check their charmed force; The winds that, loitering, lagged along their course Around the living bark enamored play, Swell underneath the sail, and sing before its way.”
“Of human form divine was he, The immortal youth of heaven who floated by, Even such as that divinest form shall be In those blest stages of our mortal race, When no infirmity, Low thought, nor base desire, nor wasting care Deface the semblance of our heavenly sire — The wings of eagle or of cherubim Had seemed unworthy him; Angelic power and dignity and grace Were in his glorious pennons; from the neck Down to the ankle reached their swelling web Richer than robes of Tyrian dye, that deck Imperial majesty:”
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p96; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
“All Southey's works are instinct, and replete with the experiences of piety, from that fine picture of natural religion, Joan of Arc's confession of faith, to that as noble sermon as ever was preached upon Christianity, the penitence of Roderic the Goth.”
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p97; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
“This last is the most original and elevated in its design of all Southey's poems.”
“In " Thalaba" and "Joan of Arc," he had illustrated the power of faith; in " Madoc" contrasted religion under a pure and simple form with the hydra ugliness of superstition.”
Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.
“Crabbe helped himself, and formed his peculiar faculties to great perfection; but Coleridge was well tasked — and not without much hard work could Southey become as " erudite as natural.”
Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846. · p60
Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p60; page given is to the 1869 reprint.
Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.
“As to Southey, I am steeped to the lips in enjoyment... truly exalting influences”
Inferred In this entry, Fuller expresses profound admiration for the works of Robert Southey, noting her "steeped to the lips in enjoyment" of his writings. Although no specific title is named, her evident passion suggests a significant engagement with his poetry, which she planned to position thematically close to Wordsworth's.
“Has not ——— vied, in her deeds of love, with "my Cid," and the holy Ottilia?”
Inferred The phrase "my Cid," directly translating the Spanish epithet mio Cid ("my lord"), identifies the protagonist of the medieval epic Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1200), whose adventures were accessible in Southey's widely-read translation.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.