Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Whitman, Sarah Helen Power

WHITMAN, SARAH HELEN POWER, an American poet; born in Providence, R. I., in 1803. She married John W. Whitman, a Boston lawyer; was once engaged to Edgar Allan Poe, afterward writing a defense of him entitled &ldquo;Edgar A. Poe and his Critics&rdquo; (1860); and was noted for her conversational powers. She published several volumes of poems, among them being the volume &ldquo;Hours of Life, and Other Poems&rdquo; (1853); also &ldquo;Fairy Ballads,&rdquo; written with her sister, Anna M. Power. She died in Providence, R. I., June 27, 1878.