Talk:Sarah Williams (poet)

Reasons for revert of 2005 October 25
The editor who made the changes in late October, from IP address 82.47.136.8, must have a different Sarah Williams in mind, since he or she changed every relevant fact except the name of the poet and her poem. If there is indeed serious dispute about whether the author of The Old Astronomer to His Pupil is American or Australian, and whether she was born in 1837 or 1982, please respond here. I have internet references that support the former version, and can find none that support the latter.

I'm willing to concede the possibility that I made a big mistake, but I'd like to see some support for the changes.

ACW 21:51, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Reasons for edit of 2008 April 10
Sarah Williams was neither American nor Australian, but British. The Old Astronomer appears in the 1872 edition of the posthumous collection Twilight Hours (I haven't yet checked the previous two editions). Williams also has an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Matthew Kilburn (talk) 17:01, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Twilight hours: a legacy of verse
Her poetry was published in a book entitled Twilight Hours, which is available in its entirety, I believe, on Google Books. It contains a memoir by an "E. H. Plumptre, M.A." - I think it might be Edward Plumptre, but his father was, according to the article, also named E. H. Plumptre. Note that I haven't read the memoir yet, but I plan to do so. Hopefully I'll be able to add a bit more to the article when I do. Cloudlet (talk) 03:46, 21 December 2013 (UTC)


 * The memoir mentions that Sarah Williams sent a copy of her first book, Rainbows in Spring-tide, to Plumptre at Queen's College, Harley Street [London]. That would have been the younger Plumptre, who was a professor there, not his father. --ABehrens (talk) 21:09, 6 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Twilight Hours can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ABehrens (talk • contribs) 21:24, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Truly or Fondly?
While the line "I have loved stars too truly..." is correct based on the scanned version of Twilight Hours at https://archive.org/details/cu31924091181317, this line is often quoted as "I have loved the stars too fondly...", for example at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Old_Astronomer

Perhaps this should be mentioned? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 100.35.225.115 (talk) 15:24, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

Birth year
Fellow editors and I found the footnote preferring 1837 as birth year based on contemporary records convincing. But I wonder about the probably contradicting statement that she graduated from Queen's College in the early 1860s. Even assuming as early as 1860, that would make her graduate at age 23 instead of the typical 18. Aithus (talk) 03:45, 16 May 2023 (UTC)


 * @Aithus: Thanks for flagging this. The Encyclopedia.com source added by (thanks for adding the infobox, btw) is cribbed from Kunitz and Haycraft, which in turn is based off Miles. Neither of the latter two sources give a date for her graduation from Queen's College; I suspect that was added by the Encyclopedia.com author under the false assumption that Queen's College was a tertiary school (for which 1841 + ~22 = ~1863 would give "early 1860s"). I'm going to adjust the article to simply say that she graduated (without giving a date), as that's all that the more reliable sources say. Pi.1415926535 (talk) 21:19, 16 May 2023 (UTC)

Letters Written by John Chamberlain
I was wondering whether this was the Sarah Williams who edited Letters Written by John Chamberlain for the Camden Society in 1861? &#8209;&#8209; Yodin T 11:55, 21 June 2023 (UTC)


 * @Yodin: Looks like it was Sarah Williams (historian). Pi.1415926535 (talk) 17:49, 21 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Have updated Sarah Williams to include a link to her. &#8209;&#8209; Yodin T 18:06, 21 June 2023 (UTC)