Biography
Henrietta Cordelia Ray was an African-American poet and writer. She became a teacher after she went to college. Ray was born in 1849 in New York City. Her father was Charles B. Ray, who was an editor for a newspaper company in the area that they lived in. He was also a minister, an abolitionist during that time period, and was even apart of helping out with the underground railroad. Ray had six siblings and all of them, including her, were able to go to school and get an education growing up. When Ray went to college, she attended the University of the City of New York. She graduated with a degree in pedagogy, which would be considered the same as teaching today. One interesting fact about her in school is that she was able to learn many languages as well. With this education, Ray would go on to write a lot of poetry and even write a biography about her father with her sister, which was published in 1887. Ray also went on to be a teacher in her community. Ray never married or had children throughout her life. She passed away in 1916.
Something Significant about Cordelia Ray
One thing to know about Cordelia Ray is that some of her poetry was well known during her time. One of her poems, “Lincoln”, was so well known and influential that it was read at the Emancipation Memorial that was held in Washington DC in 1876. Besides this poem, she had other works that were published and well known.
Text Recovered
The text that I recovered was a book of poetry called Sonnets, published in 1893. Just as a reminder, a sonnet is a poem that consists of using 14 lines and rhyme schemes. Ray’s book consists of 12 different sonnets, which are:
“To My Mother”
“Life”
“Aspiration”
“Incompleteness”
“Self-Mastery”
“Niobe”
“The Two Musicians”
“The Poet’s Ministrants”
“Milton”
“Shakespeare”
“Raphael”
“Beethoven”.
By looking at all of the titles of the sonnets, it is obvious to see that they are about musicians, painters, playwrights, and more. Some of the topics that are brought up in these poems have to do with the idea of music. The poems also bring up themes and ideas that relate to religion, love, and the idea of just being free. One interesting plot that was brought up in one of her poems, “Niobe”, had to do with Greek mythology.
Rewarding Aspects of Recovering Sonnets
Researching H. Cordelia Ray allowed me to find newspapers and journals that were being published during the 19th century, for example, the Christian Recorder and the A.M.E Church Review. I was able to find out that Ray wrote in the A.M. E. Church Review, where many well-known 19th-century writers also were featured. Even though she did not write in the Christian Recorder, this newspaper allowed me to see main topics about society that were being published during the 19th century. It was extremely rewarding to be able to find all this information about Cordelia Ray and other things during this time.
Something interesting about recovering Ray’s book of sonnets was being able to analyze each one. It did take a lot of time; however, I feel that I was able to figure out a decent amount of information about her poems and the ideas/themes presented in them. Even though I did enjoy learning about Ray, I feel that it was hard to recover this piece of text because of how small it was. I do enjoy reading poetry, yet it was a little difficult for me, considering the language of it and there only being 12 sonnets to look through. If I were to recover anything from Ray again, I would definitely try to find something with more length. Overall, I am proud of myself that I was able learn and recover a piece of writing from a 19th century American woman writer.
Other Pieces of Work by H. Cordelia Ray
Some other works by Cordelia Ray are:
Poems (1910)
“A Tour To Famous Homes” (1905)
“Lincoln” (1876)
Sketches of Life of Rev. Charles E. Ray (1887)
References
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/henrietta-cordelia-ray
https://archive.org/details/sonnets00rayh/page/n5/mode/2up
https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=su%3a%22Poetry%22+AND+kw%3a%22Ray,%20H.%20Cordelia%22