Rosamund Marriott Watson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rosamund Marriott Watson
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| Born | October 6, 1860 London, England, United Kingdom
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| Died | December 29, 1911 (aged 51) |
| Occupation | Poet, writer, critic |
Rosamund Marriott Watson (born Rosamund Ball) was an English poet, nature writer, and critic. She was born on October 6, 1860, and passed away on December 29, 1911. Early in her writing career, she used different pen names like Graham R. Tomson and Rushworth Armytage.
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Rosamund's Early Life
Rosamund Ball, often called Rose, was born in London on October 6, 1860. She was the fifth child of Benjamin Williams Ball, an accountant and poet, and Sylvia Ball. Her older brother, Wilfrid Ball, became a painter. He helped her meet important people in London's writing world, including John Lane, who published The Yellow Book.
When Rosamund was 13, her mother passed away. She later said this gave her a lot of freedom to read and write. There are no records of her going to a formal school. She first wanted to be a painter, but her father did not allow it. Her love for beauty later shaped her writing about gardens and home design.
Her Writing Career
Rosamund Watson started her writing career in 1883. She wrote a column about modern fashion for The Fortnightly Review. After this, she wrote for other magazines. By 1886, her first poems appeared in American magazines like Scribner's Magazine and The Independent.
She often used pen names for these early works. She adopted the name Armytage after marrying George Francis Armytage in 1879. They had two daughters, Eulalie and Daphne. Later, she used the name "Graham R. Tomson." She lived in London and often spent summers in Cornwall. She later lived with the novelist H. B. Marriott Watson and had a son named Richard.
Poetry and Pseudonyms
Watson became very successful with her poetry. Her poems were inspired by famous poets like Alfred Lord Tennyson and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She was skilled at using many different poetry styles. Her poems covered topics like nature, magic, old stories, love, and art. Her clear ideas and new ways of looking at old stories kept her work interesting.
Her poems appeared in many magazines, including The Yellow Book. Her main poetry books were Tares (1884), The Bird-Bride (1886), A Summer Night (1891), Vespertilia and Other Verses (1895), and After Sunset (1904). Tares was published without an author's name. She used the Tomson pen name for The Bird-Bride and the first edition of A Summer Night.
Using pen names was common for women writers in the late 1800s. It helped them get their work noticed in a world mostly run by men. For example, the editor Andrew Lang praised one of her early poems, thinking a man had written it. Once she became well-known, later editions of A Summer Night used her real name. Her later books, including the 1900 novel An Island Rose, also used her real name.
Other Writings
Watson wrote a lot about gardening. Her essays on this topic were published in The Heart of a Garden (1906). She also wrote columns about home design and fashion. Her very first published work in 1883 was about 'modern' fashion. Some of these columns were collected in The Art of the House (1897). She also wrote a column called "Wares of Autolycous" for the Pall Mall Gazette.
Starting in 1892, Watson edited Sylvia's Journal. This was a monthly magazine for women that covered many topics, from work and art to home life. Famous writers like Violet Hunt and Edith Nesbit wrote for the magazine. Watson herself wrote a book column called "Book Gossip."
In 1892, a long interview with Watson was published in Arnold Bennett's journal Woman.
Rosamund Marriott Watson passed away on December 29, 1911, at the age of fifty-one. Her collected poems were published in 1912.
Books by Rosamund Marriott Watson
Verse Collections
- Tares: a Book of Verses (1884; first edition had no author name)
- The Bird-Bride: a Volume of Ballads and Sonnets (1889; as Tomson)
- A Summer Night and Other Poems (1891 as Tomson; 1895 as Watson)
- Vespertilia and Other Verses (1895)
- Old Books, Fresh Flowers (1899)
- The Patchwork Quilt (1900)
- After Sunset (1904)
- The Poems of Rosamund Marriott Watson (1912)
Nonfiction Works
- The Art of the House (1897)
- The Heart of a Garden (1906)
- The Lamp and the Lute (1912)
Fiction Novels
- An Island Rose (1900)
