Margaret Fuller’s Reading Worlds

Psalms

Biblical Book

Documented in Fuller’s letters, books, manuscripts, memoirs

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

Related

Entities
Bible (general) · Hebrew Scriptures

Representative documentary evidence

1840—

Starry Night Meditation

p2–p3
readManuscript page
“The ancient Shepherd stood / As night to night he viewed / These glory, clustered bards / In Heaven's vast solitude / [...] Then — "what is man"? / He sang, "the child of clay;”

Fuller, Margaret. "Starry Night Meditation." Boston Public Library Archives & Special Collections; MS Am. 1450; Box: 3, Folder: 129.

Inferred Psalm 8:3–4 (KJV): 'When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?' The psalmist is traditionally identified as David the shepherd, gazing at the night sky.

1843—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“I had already lavished more of this on inward conflict than suffices to sustain many mortals through their three-score and ten years”

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.

1844—

Summer on the Lakes

quoted
“The earth is full of men.”

Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the Lakes, in 1843. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1844.

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

1844—

New-York Daily Tribune

“Thanksgiving” · November 28, 1844, November 1844
quoted · read
“Lord, cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860. · p244

Inferred The quoted passage, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression,” is from Psalm 19:13 (King James Version). The author and title are inferred.

1845—

The Letters of Margaret Fuller: Edited by Robert N

quoted
“Ask for me in the words of your own poet, his original words, which I cannot repeat "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins”

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

quoted2 selected passages
“One don't want deep calling unto deep always, the shallows with their gold and silver fishes may take their turn.”

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

“I cannot realise that I shall be here long either, though I feel perfectly willing now to stay my three-score years, if it be thought I need so much tuition from this planet.”

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

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

1852—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p65
quoted · read2 selected passages
“prayed so earnestly day by day, — "O, Eternal!”

Inferred She incorporates directly quoted petitions from the text, such as 'keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me,' employing these verses as personal prayers for spiritual guidance amidst chaos.

“I feel perfectly willing to stay my threescore years and ten, if it be thought I need so much tuition from this planet”

Inferred This passage alludes to Psalm 90:10 from the Old Testament, a text commonly known for its reflection on the brevity of human life.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.

1859—

Life Without and Life Within

quoted
“While I was musing, the fire burned”

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1859.

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.—

Howe-1883

quoted
“Longfellow is artificial and imitative. He borrows incessantly, and mixes what he borrows, so that it does not appear to the best advantage....”

Howe-1883

Inferred Identification rationale not yet recorded.

n.d.—

Meta in Elysium

p1
quotedManuscript page
“Hast thou never read "While we are musing, the fire burns".”

Fuller, Margaret. "Meta in Elysium." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Inferred The phrase 'While we are musing, the fire burns' set in quotation marks by Fuller is a direct adaptation of Psalm 39:3 KJV: 'My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned.' Laura (the speaking character) quotes this to Meta, asking whether Meta has spent her time in productive meditation. Fuller does not name the source.