She wanted to be "useful" and "unknown,"
but also not to be "forgotten quite."
Eliza R. Snow's first printed words were an introduction to a poem in August 1825: "It is not my wish to appear in print."
Yet
she did appear in print, and now more than ever with the publishing of
"Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry," edited by Jill Mulvay Derr and
Karen Lynn Davidson.
The book is 1,383 pages long and contains 507 poems.
But, it was almost only 71 pages long with only 43 poems — or would have been if not for the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Snow
was born in 1804 and spent most of her first 30 years in Mantua, Ohio.
She was like many young women poets of the day, publishing here and
there in local newspapers under pseudonyms. She used names like
Angerona, Narcissa, Cornelia and Tullia.
She also drew the romantic attention of poet James B. Walker but rebuffed him and remained single.
__IMAGE1__In
1828, she aligned herself with preacher Alexander Campbell's religious
movement — a group that sought a return to a more New Testament-based
Christianity. Three years later, one of Campbell's former followers,
Sidney Rigdon, introduced the Snow family, including Eliza's brother
Lorenzo, to Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet.
It
took four more years before Snow decided to be baptized on April 5,
1835. By December, she had joined other believers at Kirtland, Ohio,
where she lived with Joseph and Emma Smith and was a teacher to their
children. Lorenzo Snow was baptized the next year and would one day
become president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
All
through this, Snow wrote her poems — including two hymns that were
included in the 1835 Hymnal (which was actually published in 1836).
But
all was not well. "Conflict in Kirtland combined with the subsequent
move to Missouri and the traumatic lawlessness she encountered there
seems to have silenced Eliza's poetic voice," wrote editors Derr and
Davidson.
Snow could have never written another poem, and the collection would have only numbered about 43.
__IMAGE2__But something happened that made her relent. A Prophet intervened and gave a call.
"Sometime
in early fall 1838, in response to her need or the church's need or
both, Joseph Smith apparently invited Eliza to speak through her poems
to and for the Latter-day Saints," Derr and Davidson wrote.
Snow's longing was to be of usefulness. Three long years of silence were now gone. Her
voice would chronicle the Mormons' faith — her poems reflect her
testimony's strength.
But much would
remain hidden. Snow's poems rarely gave a direct glimpse into her own
life and her own personal feelings. She consecrated her talents to the
Lord.
Even her own journal sometimes
hid the deep things of her heart — such as her entry on June 29, 1842,
the day she became a plural wife of Joseph Smith: "This is a day of
much interest to my feelings."
Less
than two years later, Joseph was murdered by a mob. Even then, her
poetry was put to God's purposes — seeking to comfort others and to
sustain the new leader, Brigham Young.
Brigham
Young married Snow four months after Joseph had been killed. She found
security and kinship, not only in Young's family, but also with the
martyr's widows.
It was a year
later, only a few months before members of the church began the trek
westward, that she wrote the hymn "O My Father."
Snow
went west with the Saints to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Her poems
defended doctrine, marked occasions, celebrated holidays and encouraged
faithfulness. In 1856, she moved into a small room in the Lion House,
the home of many of Brigham Young's family.
She
worked in the Endowment House — a temporary "temple" on Temple Square
where temple ordinances were performed while the Salt Lake Temple was
under construction.
She helped
re-establish the Relief Society in Utah and was active in establishing
many other programs such as a Young Women organization and the Primary
for children. She had become a public figure and was beloved of her
husband and prophet, Brigham Young.
She
traveled with her brother, Lorenzo Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve,
and others to the Holy Land from 1872 to 1873. She also wrote the hymns
"How Great the Wisdom" and "Behold the Great Redeemer Die."
Snow's
life was near the end in spring 1880. Many friends had already died,
including her husband Brigham Young. She began to use the last name of
her first husband, "the choice of my heart and the crown of my life."
Eliza
R. Snow Smith died in the Lion House on Dec. 5, 1887. At her funeral in
the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, the funeral drapery was white
instead of black. This had been her request. A choir sang her words,
"No note of sorrow to prompt a sigh: Bury me quietly when I die."
Although
her poetry and hymns are her most obvious legacy, Emmeline B. Wells
found that her "influence for good that she exerted for the benefit of
others" was "what constituted her more truly great than any poem she
has written."
Author's note: When Mormon
Times writer Emily Schmuhl and I decided to review this book, I used
simple math to decide how to divide up the task. Of the 1,383 pages,
only 53 pages directly examined Eliza Snow's life like a biography. I
offered to look at Snow's life and left the 1,330 other pages for
Schmuhl.
E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com