Margaret Fuller’s Reading Worlds

Kings

Biblical Book

Documented in Fuller’s letters, books, manuscripts

This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.

Related

Entities
Bible (general) · Hebrew Scriptures · Jeremiah · Old Testament · Psalms

Representative documentary evidence

1837—

Letter to Caroline Sturgis

p303
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“At least for four weeks past it has seemed as if there were no great stock of oil to feed my wick. Perhaps the cruise may be filled again by some prophet before thou comest.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. I. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Inferred Fuller alludes to 1 Kings 17:12–16 (KJV), the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, whose "cruse of oil" was continually replenished by God despite drought and famine.

1839—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“The hours of this summer, the first leisure summer since I was of your age, and perhaps the last truly leisure hours of my life are to me the gold of Ophir, the spices of Ceylon.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

1840—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“Notwithstanding a course like this her husband has grown rich and proves that the pattern of the widows cruise was not lost in Jewery.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

1842—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“a rill struck out from the rock, clear and cool in all its course, the still, small voice.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

1843—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“In the widow's cruse is oil enough to furnish light for all the world.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

1843—

Brook Farm, New Year's Eve

pp1-2
mentioned2 selected passagesManuscript page
“To the lone prophet of an earlier age / The ravens brought the food that men denied.”

Inferred Fuller does not name the book or verse but the allusion is unmistakable. The poem's opening stanza alludes unmistakably to the Old Testament story of Elijah: 'And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook' (1 Kings 17:6, KJV).

“Ere he descend in chariots of fire, / To snatch from this low sphere all vestige of a higher.”

Inferred Fuller does not name the book or verse but the image is a standard biblical allusion.

Cataloged as a separate row from R02 because the two references point to different chapters and different moments in the Elijah narrative.

Fuller, Margaret. "Brook Farm, New Year's Eve." Boston Public Library Archives & Special Collections; MS Am. 1450; Box: 3, Folder: 135.

1845—

New-York Daily Tribune

“Fourth of July” · July 4, 1845, July 1845 · p. 2
read3 selected passages
“freedom from public opinion so far as it does not agree with the still, small voice of one's better self”

Inferred The phrase "still, small voice" is a direct quotation from 1 Kings 19:12 (King James Version): "and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." This biblical passage, describing Elijah's encounter with God, was a common allusion in the 19th century. The author and title are inferred from the quoted phrase.

“for the speech, though it had the force of fact and the lustre of thought, was chiefly remarkable as sharing the penetrating quality of the "still small voice," most often heard when no man speaks.”

Inferred Fuller's quotation of "still small voice" alludes to 1 Kings 19:12 (King James Version), where it describes God's communication with Elijah.

“in this country, more than in the old Palestine, do they give their children to the fire in honor of Moloch, and sell the ark confided to them by the Most High for shekels of gold and of silver.”

Inferred Fuller alludes to biblical Moloch-worship, applying the image to American slavery as a moral parallel.

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860.

1846—

New-York Daily Tribune

“First of January” · January 1, 1846, January 1846 · p. 1
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“Even so the Jewish king, crowned with all gifts that Heaven could bestow, was intoxicated by their plenitude, and went astray after the most worthless idols.”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860.

Inferred went astray after the most worthless idols" directly alludes to 1 Kings 11:1-13, where Solomon turns to idolatry in his old age. The specific source of this biblical allusion is inferred from the quoted phrase.

1848—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“A widow, I expected still to have the cruse full for others.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

1849—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“the bosom of woman, that once seemed to me the invariable home of angelic pity, seems almost a shrine for offerings to moloch.”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

1850—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“I piously wish them the fate of the scoffers who did not prize that peculiarity in a Prophet”

Fuller, Margaret. The letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. 6 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983–1994.

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

Undated

Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.

n.d.—

On Michelangelo and Raphael

p37
quotedManuscript page
“and 'the half was not told me' looks more like cajolery than reverence”

Fuller, Margaret. "On Michelangelo and Raphael." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Inferred Fuller quotes 'the half was not told me' — the exact KJV phrase from 1 Kings 10:7, the Queen of Sheba's response on visiting Solomon.