Love Poems of the Past and Present

When a poet’s rhymes come from romance, each line penned by a writer eager to spin a sentimental song about their feelings or commit a lover’s visage to verse, the piece can live on past its era of origin.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, so does an event honoring a trailblazing local figure whose sense of activism and homeland pride was an amorous endeavor in itself.

Frances “Fanny” Isabelle Parnell (1848–1882), an Irish poet who expressed her nationalistic pride through writing and political action, came to Bordentown, where her mother’s ancestral home was, in 1874.

Dubbed the “Patriot Poet,” Parnell later passed away at this Mercer County family estate, but her literary devotion lives on in the Bordentown Poetry Project.

In recognition of Parnell’s contributions, as well as those of five noted regional and state writers—Ellen Foos, Luray Gross, Roberta Clipper, and Todd Evans—the FP Poetry Project will host a free February presentation and limited open reading at Bordentown’s Old City Hall on Sunday, February 5, at 2 p.m.

Dan Aubrey, a Bordentown-based writer, U.S. 1 Newspaper Editor, and arts coordinator, will host.

The initiative is organized by the Bordentown Old City Hall Restoration Committee’s “Cultural Vision” project, which was formed last year as a subcommittee of the volunteer group dedicated to rehabilitating the building at 11 Crosswicks Street.

So why not get equally lost in the words of yearning from yore? The long legacy of love poems published by the area’s earlier contributors, which evoke everlasting tenderness, are a fitting match to Bordentown’s more modern compositions.

Editor’s Note: A number of these older poems ran in a previous issue of Community News Service’s weekly Princeton metro area paper, U.S. 1, in February 2020 as “A Vintage Literary Bouquet for Valentine’s Day” by Dan Aubrey.

Annis Boudinot Stockton, also a poet and patriot, was one of the first women in her craft to be published in America. Stockon, who came from familial wealth of her own, married lawyer Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The well-connected couple called a property in Princeton, Morven, their home. William Penn, Richard’s grandfather, had given him the land, and Annis decided to name the mansion after the Gaelic word for “big hill.”

Morven served as the state’s first governor’s mansion before it was historically preserved in honor of its many cultural and artistic contributions.

Annis expressed her feelings in verse as she awaited her husband’s return—first from his general travels, but especially following his imprisonment by British forces during the Revolutionary War.

Despite the two’s eventual reunion, Richard died only a few years after his release.

Ellen Foos is a Princeton-based poet and the founder of Ragged Sky Press, a publication that “has historically focused on mature voices, overlooked poets, and women’s perspectives” since 1992. She is also a past editor for the Princeton University Press.

Henry Van Dyke was a theologian who graduated from Princeton University—where he would later teach English—and the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1873 and 1877, respectively.

A Presbyterian minister by trade, Van Dyke also wrote poems and short stories. He began his career by reading his works “aloud to his congregation in New York as sermons,” according to his Britannica biography.

While these pieces share a similar theme, the first is written as a sonnet.

Luray Gross currently resides in Bucks County, where she was named the 2002 Poet Laureate.

A graduate of Trenton State College, now the College of New Jersey, she went on to become a Geraldine R. Dodge poet and the recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Poetry Fellowship.

Francis Hopkinson, known as Bordentown’s own Founding Father, signed the Declaration of Independence just as Richard Stockton did.

As “America’s first poet-composer,” the humorous harpsichordist worked in law and on his lyrical abilities.

When not working as a judge, Hopkinson wrote original secular songs, which the subsequent poem became, as well as satirical pieces.

Roberta Clipper’s poetry and fiction have been published nationally.

The Bordentown resident is a former professor at Rider University, where she retired from the English department in 2021 after serving as chair and instructor.

Philip Freneau, a sea captain with a proclivity for poetry and politics, was the staunchly Jeffersonian editor of the “National Gazette.” His narrative style earned him the moniker “poet of the American Revolution.”

Freneau, an alumnus of Princeton University, spent a significant amount of time at sea on trade voyages. He likely wrote this poem lamenting the waves of separation between him and his wife, Eleanor Forman.

According to “The Poems of Philip Freneau,” a free eBook by Project Gutenberg, “To Cynthia” first appeared in print with two variations before the author settled on this final version.

Before opting for “Jersey,” Freneau’s initial line spoke of “Monmouth’s,” the county where he lived, and then “Morven’s vale” as a homage to the Stocktons’ famous Princeton estate.

Todd Evans is a Trenton-born poet and arts event coordinator. He founded the Don Evans Players Theater Group as a tribute to his late father, Don Evans, a playwright who taught at numerous area institutions—Princeton High School, Princeton University, Rutgers University, but most notably, the College of New Jersey, where he served as the chair of the African American studies department.

Todd’s pen name, “Son of Black,” honors Don’s legacy, as well as how his father smoked Captain Black pipe tobacco.

Consider yourself a new secret admirer of these poets? Take a cue from Fanny Parnell—be bold by showing your affection the first weekend of February in Bordentown, then keep the momentum through Valentine’s Day and beyond.

FP Poetry Project, Sunday, February 5, 2 p.m., Old City Hall, 11 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown. For more information, contact coworksprojects@gmail.com.