Cornelia Jane Jordan ( Matthews; January 11, 1830 – January 26, 1898) was an American poet and lyricist associated with the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Her book of poems entitled ''Corinth, and other Poems'', published after the surrender, was seized by the military commander of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

and suppressed. She published a volume entitled ''Richmond, Her Glory and Her Graves''. Jordan also contributed many articles to magazines and newspapers, the best of which were "The Battle of Manassas," "The Death of Jackson" and "An Appeal for

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

". She was a member of the Alumni of the

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Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishm ...

, her alma mater.

Early life and education

Cornelia Jane Matthews was born in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

, January 11, 1830. Her father was Edwin Matthews, a former mayor of that town. Her mother was Emily Goggin Matthews, a sister of William L. Goggin, who figured prominently in Virginia politics before the war. She was born to wealth, and received all the advantages of liberal education and polished society. After her mother's death in 1834, Jordan and two younger sisters were sent to the home of their grandmother in Bedford County. In 1842, at the age of 12, Jordan was placed in the school of the Sisters of the Visitation, in Georgetown. Her poetical productions being numerous and excellent, she was the poet-laureate of her schoolmates.

Career

In 1851, she married Francis Hubert Jordan (1821–1896), a lawyer from Luray, Virginia, where she made her home. During the first years of her married life, she wrote a great deal. A collection of her poems was published in Richmond, in 1860, with the title, ''Flowers of Hope and Memory''. During the Civil War, she wrote many stirring

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

. A volume of these, entitled ''Corinth, and Other Poems'', was published after the surrender. It was seized by the military commander in Richmond and suppressed as seditious. In 1867, she published ''Richmond: Her Glory and Her Graves'', in a volume with some shorter lyrics. She contributed many poems to magazines and newspapers. Her best-known war poems were "The Battle of Manassas", "The Death of Jackson", and "An Appeal for Jefferson Davis". Her "Funeral Flowers" touched a sympathetic chord, while "Old Confed'" was copied into various

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

journals. Cornelia Jane Jordan died in 1898, aged 68.

Selected works

* ''Flowers of Hope and Memory'', 1860 * ''"Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven" : the blighted bud, a mother's record of a little life soon ended.'', 1861 * ''Corinth, and other poems of the war'', 1865 * ''Richmond: Her Glory and Her Graves'', 1867 * ''Echoes from the cannon'', 1899

References

Attribution

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Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Cornelia J. M. 1830 births 1898 deaths 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers Writers from Lynchburg, Virginia Poets from Virginia American women poets Women in the American Civil War People from Luray, Virginia Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century