Mary Ann H.T. Bigelow was sixty years old when she began writing poetry, as she states in her preface, and her first experiment was a verse history of English kings and queens, composed from memory. The resulting collection, published in 1853, pairs that historical poem with a range of personal and devotional lyrics. The catalog assigns this work to Science Fiction & Utopias, yet the excerpts contain no speculative or futuristic content; instead, they offer a domestic, religious, and retrospective voice. Bigelow’s preface frames the poems as an amateur effort, asking readers to “wink at” defects, and the verses themselves bear out that self-assessment with irregular meter and informal diction. The book’s contents include acrostics for family members, hymns, and occasional pieces, all grounded in mid-nineteenth-century American Protestant culture.

A Historical Poem from Memory

The title poem, “The Kings and Queens of England,” opens with William the Norman and proceeds reign by reign. Bigelow explains she wrote it to test how much history she could recall without reference books. The result is a rapid, rhymed summary that compresses events into couplets, as when she notes of Stephen that “no one pretends to say he had a right” to the crown. The poem’s value lies less in poetic craft than in its evidence of a nineteenth-century American woman’s mental store of English royal history. The meter often strains, and Bigelow herself acknowledges “redundances” that might be trimmed. Yet the work is not a dry list; it includes character sketches, such as Henry II who “cuts a great figure / With Becket, fair Rosamond and Queen Eliner.” The poem’s existence challenges the catalog’s Science Fiction classification, as nothing in the excerpt suggests any departure from factual historical narrative.

Personal and Domestic Verse

Beyond the historical poem, the collection is filled with pieces addressed to family and friends. An acrostic “To my Daughter Elizabeth” and verses for grandchildren appear alongside a longer poem “To my Friend Mrs. Lloyd,” which recounts Bigelow’s boarding school memories. In that poem, she names classmates and teachers—Lydia, Polly, Peter, Monsieur Pichon, French teacher Faucon—and recalls a “boarding school famous” she entered as a girl. The tone is conversational and nostalgic: “How like to a dream / Do those days to me seem.” She notes that of all her schoolmates, only Mrs. Lloyd remains a living friend, and she hopes their friendship will endure “when in flames of fire / This earth will expire.” These personal poems reveal a social world of female friendship and family piety, far removed from utopian or scientific themes. The catalog’s subject heading “American poetry” fits, but the Science Fiction label appears to be a misclassification.

Devotional and Biblical Themes

Several poems in the collection treat religious subjects directly. “Escape of the Israelites, And Destruction of Pharaoh” retells the Exodus story in dramatic couplets, addressing Pharaoh as “short-sighted monarch” and emphasizing God’s protection of Israel. Other pieces include “Feed my Lambs,” “God is Love,” and “The Great Physician.” Bigelow also writes hymns “For the Sabbath School Concert” and an “Ordination Hymn.” Her religious verse is earnest and didactic, urging love for the Sabbath, prayer, and charity. In one untitled poem, she defines love as “Love to holy Sabbath day, / Love to meditate and pray.” These works align with the domestic piety common in nineteenth-century American women’s writing. The catalog’s Science Fiction classification is again unsupported; the excerpts contain no speculative elements, only conventional Christian theology and biblical paraphrase.

Readers approaching this collection should set aside the catalog’s Science Fiction label and instead expect a mid-nineteenth-century amateur poet’s miscellany. Bigelow’s historical poem offers a curiosity of memory-based versification, while her personal and devotional pieces provide glimpses into a woman’s domestic and religious life. The book rewards those interested in the informal literary production of the period, especially the ways women used poetry to record family ties, friendships, and faith.