"Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865) was the most widely read and respected pre-Civil War American woman poet in the English-speaking world. In a halfcentury career, Sigourney produced a wide range of poetry and prose envisaging the United States as a new kind of republic with a unique mission in history, one in which women like herself had a central role." "In this Broadview edition, a representative selection of poetry and prose from across her career illustrates Sigourney's national vision and the diversity of forms she used to promote it. In the appendices, letters and documents illustrate her working methods in what she called her "kitchen in Parnassus.""--Jacket.