Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Eliza Cook 1818-1889 was a hugely popular Victorian poet despite her working class background. She said of herself “I remember seeing a review of my earliest writings where the critic attempted to sneer me down as being ‘a poet of and for the lower classes.’ Short-sighted men of letters! Did he dream of the compliment he paid me?”
She was also an essayist and magazine editor and publisher. Today she is barely read. Why was she so popular? And how did she bring her politics into her work?
The Old Arm-Chair
I love it, I love it ; and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old Arm-chair ?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize ;
I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs.
' Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart ;
Not a tie will break, not a link will start.
Would ye learn the spell ? -- a mother sat there ;
And a sacred thing is that old Arm-chair.
In Childhood's hour I lingered near
The hallowed seat with listening ear ;
And gentle words that mother would give ;
To fit me to die, and teach me to live.
She told me shame would never betide,
With truth for my creed and God for my guide ;
She taught me to lisp my earliest prayer ;
As I knelt beside that old Arm-chair.
I sat and watched her many a day,
When her eye grew dim, and her locks were grey :
And I almost worshipped her when she smiled,
And turned from her Bible, to bless her child.
Years rolled on; but the last one sped--
My idol was shattered; my earth-star fled :
I learnt how much the heart can bear,
When I saw her die in that old Arm-chair.
'Tis past, 'tis past, but I gaze on it now
With quivering breath and throbbing brow :
'Twas there she nursed me ; 'twas there she died :
And Memory flows with lava tide.
Say it is folly, and deem me weak,
While the scalding drops start down my cheek ;
But I love it, I love it ; and cannot tear
My soul from a mother's old Arm-chair.
An example of her more political poems: https://odp.library.tamu.edu/victorianpoetry/chapter/a-song-for-the-workers/
I used various sources but the most helpful starting point was this booklet:
Eliza-Cook-Louisa-Hubbard-booklet-PDF.pdf https://share.google/JTFVsDVWjYnGBsMhY by Bryan Webster
Find all her poems here: The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook :: :: University of Virginia Library https://share.google/yNdU6KgNMNLnZW1wI
Eliza Cook 1818-1889 was a hugely popular Victorian poet despite her working class background. She said of herself “I remember seeing a review of my earliest writings where the critic attempted to sneer me down as being ‘a poet of and for the lower classes.’ Short-sighted men of letters! Did he dream of the compliment he paid me?”
She was also an essayist and magazine editor and publisher. Today she is barely read. Why was she so popular? And how did she bring her politics into her work?
The Old Arm-Chair
I love it, I love it ; and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old Arm-chair ?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize ;
I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs.
' Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart ;
Not a tie will break, not a link will start.
Would ye learn the spell ? -- a mother sat there ;
And a sacred thing is that old Arm-chair.
In Childhood's hour I lingered near
The hallowed seat with listening ear ;
And gentle words that mother would give ;
To fit me to die, and teach me to live.
She told me shame would never betide,
With truth for my creed and God for my guide ;
She taught me to lisp my earliest prayer ;
As I knelt beside that old Arm-chair.
I sat and watched her many a day,
When her eye grew dim, and her locks were grey :
And I almost worshipped her when she smiled,
And turned from her Bible, to bless her child.
Years rolled on; but the last one sped--
My idol was shattered; my earth-star fled :
I learnt how much the heart can bear,
When I saw her die in that old Arm-chair.
'Tis past, 'tis past, but I gaze on it now
With quivering breath and throbbing brow :
'Twas there she nursed me ; 'twas there she died :
And Memory flows with lava tide.
Say it is folly, and deem me weak,
While the scalding drops start down my cheek ;
But I love it, I love it ; and cannot tear
My soul from a mother's old Arm-chair.
An example of her more political poems: https://odp.library.tamu.edu/victorianpoetry/chapter/a-song-for-the-workers/
I used various sources but the most helpful starting point was this booklet:
Eliza-Cook-Louisa-Hubbard-booklet-PDF.pdf https://share.google/JTFVsDVWjYnGBsMhY by Bryan Webster
Find all her poems here: The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook :: :: University of Virginia Library https://share.google/yNdU6KgNMNLnZW1wI
