"A Fiendish Malediction"

To this day, Dr. Laura Laffrado has only found one negative review of Ella Higginson's work since she began the Ella Higginson Recovery Project. However, for years Dr. Laffrado was unsure what exactly the review said, as the only reference to it was in a 1935 letter Higginson wrote to Alfred Powers (1887-1983, an Oregon author and journalist). It was not until a few months ago that the actual review was located.

The author of the review is unknown, but since it was printed in The Washington Standard of Olympia, Washington, it can be assumed they were local. The object of the review was Higginson's poem "Hate" which appears in the collection of her poetry When the Birds Go North Again (1898). The review, titled "A Fiendish Malediction" and published August 24, 1900, reprints "Hate" and goes on to critique the piece and its author. Transcription below:

"Hate" as it appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).

To those who have attributed to women those gentler instincts which mould the actions of humanity into deeds of kindness and love, the foregoing quotation from a little volume published by Ella Higginson, of New Whatcom, entitled "When the Birds Go North Again," gives a rude shock. It causes a chill of horror to run down the spine at the sudden realization of the fact that even the better half of humanity may be as destitute of character as the bloodthirsty savage; assuming of course, that poets always portray their heart-throbs when they take the world into confidence, and that Truth twangs the strings of their empassioned lyres.

Such hatred as the fair authoress professes is not creditable, and it is not fair to ascribe it to others if not seriously entertained by herself. It is not of heaven nor of earth, and can only find a habitation in the regions of the damned, and be held by those unforgiven and unforgivable creatures, who glory in a hatred so intense that they hope it will last throughout eternity.

An then temerity and irreverence manifested by taking into her defiant confidence One of all others whose nature beams with forgiveness and love; one who came on earth and died to inculcate the doctrine of love, forgiveness and fraternity, peace on earth and goodwill among men. She prays—not in His name surely—that a fellow being, on her own judgement, may be sent to the "deepest hell," and that the awful fires may "slowly do their part," so as to inflict the most exquisite, lasting and horrible torments. This seems so hellish (the proper word, dear reader,) it challenges belief that a human being could have deliberately given expression to such cruel sentiment.

It is safe to say that if good old St. Peter ever catches a glimpse of that little poem, Ella will never enter the pearly gates. She will be compelled to finish out such profound hating "to all eternity," at New Whatcom, or in Hades, for nobody with such a lump in her throat will be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.

It's little wonder that Higginson would recall this over three decades later due to its damning nature. The review is fraught with ideas from the culture of domesticity, perpetuating the concept that women are inherently more moral than men (“the better half of humanity”) and that it is their duty to be moral guardians of the household and society. In a single column, the author of the review has attacked Higginson’s femininity, accused her of personally harboring “hellish” hate for a woman in her community, claimed that she could not possibly pray to the Christian God, and will ultimately be barred from heaven upon her death.

The review as it appears in The Washington Standard on August 24, 1900.

However, the review points out its own flaw: the reviewer has confused the narrator of the poem with the author of the poem (“assuming of course, that poets always portray their heart-throbs”). The narrator is the author’s own construction, just as the lines of the poem are. Another review of “Hate” does not make this mistake, declaring that When the Birds Go North Again is worth owning for this poem alone, but agrees that if the poem were inspired by the genuine hatred of real person Higginson knew, then to publish it would be “improper” (pg. 430, The Book Buyer, vol XXV, 1903).

In her letter to Alfred Powers, 35 years after the publication of the review, Higginson finally addresses it: “I have never publicly answered a criticism of my work; but I wish now to answer many bitter and ignorant criticisms of one of my poems—"Hate," in my volume "When the Birds Go North Again." How any one could read in that poem that it is I speaking is entirely beyond my understanding.”

The letter explaining "Hate" written to Alfred Powers by Ella Higginson, 9 June 1935. A full transcription is available at the bottom of this post.

Higginson reveals to Powers the origin of the poem, writing how she was inspired after seeing actress Fanny Davenport (1850-1898) in her most famous role as the Queen of Egypt in the English translation of French playwright Victorien Sardou’s Cleopatra:

Many years ago, in Chicago, I saw Fanny Davenport play "Cleopatra." There was a scene in which, lying prone upon a couch, she watched through a screen, a love-scene between Antony and Octavia. Her portrayal of a woman consumed with jealousy was so powerful that I was deeply impressed thereby, and the poem formed itself in my mind; and upon my return to my hotel, I made the first rough draft of it at once. It was first published under the title of "Cleopatra."

It's unknown exactly when Higginson saw the production, but that she saw it during a trip to the East coast in 1891. Once on tour, the show played at the Columbia Opera House in Chicago December 7-12, 1891 after a run first in New York City and then in Boston. Fanny Davenport, the daughter of two successful theatrical artists, produced, directed, and starred in Cleopatra, whose script had not previously been performed in English. The show, declared by the press as the theatrical highlight of the year, was worth $50,000 (over $1.3 million today), had a chorus of over 120 members, and used five real snakes in the performances.

Fanny Davenport as Cleopatra, New York City, December 1890.

The scene which inspired the poem was Act IV, Scene V. Cleopatra secretly listens to a conversation between her lover Antony and the young Octavia. In the script, Antony tells Octavia how he prefers her youth and chastity to Cleopatra’s maturity and sexual experience. He compares Cleopatra to a ghost in the night and Octavia to the brilliance of the dawn. The scene leaves Cleopatra “overwhelmed” and “destroyed” and she weeps furiously before exiting the stage.

“When it was included in my book, a critic advised me to name it "Hate," because it was the most powerful description of that devastating passion he had ever read,” Higginson writes of the poem. A draft of the poem kept in the Washington State Archives Bellingham branch sports the original title.

A draft of "Hate" on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA. 

If Higginson had kept “Cleopatra” as the title, this misunderstanding would have been avoided and the damning yet hilarious review never written. At the close of the letter, she reiterates how foolish it was for the reviewer to assume that Higginson was writing from a place of personal truth: “I wrote a "murder" story once, also a "murder" poem, both in the first person; but have not, as yet, been accused of that crime!”

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A full transcription of the letter to Alfred Powers by Ella Higginson, 9 June 1935:

If you can ever give this publicity, I'll be grateful.

I have never publicly answered a criticism of my work; but I wish now to answer many bitter and ignorant criticisms of one of my poems—"Hate," in my volume "When the Birds Go North Again." How any one could read in that poem that it is I speaking is entirely beyond my understanding.

Many years ago, in Chicago, I saw Fanny Davenport play "Cleopatra." There was a scene in which, lying prone upon a couch, she watched through a screen, a love-scene between Antony and Octavia. Her portrayal of a woman consumed with jealousy was so powerful that I was deeply impressed thereby, and the poem formed itself in my mind; and upon my return to my hotel, I made the first rough draft of it at once. It was first published under the title of "Cleopatra." I believe in "foreordination," and I think it was that which made me keep that first draft, bearing that title—and which has long been in the possession of Edith B. Carhart, head of the Bellingham Public Library.

When it was included in my book, a critic advised me to name it "Hate," because it was the most powerful description of that devastating passion he had ever read.

I wrote a "murder" story once, also a "murder" poem, both in the first person; but have not, as yet, been accused of that crime!