What Polly Found In Her Stocking.

With the first pale glimmer,

Of the morning red,

Polly woke delighted

And flew out of bed.

To the door she hurried,

Never stopped for clothes,

Though Jack Frost's cold fingers

Nipt her little toes.

There it hung! the stocking,

Long and blue and full;

Down it quickly tumbled

With a hasty pull.

Back she capered, laughing,

Happy little Polly;

For from out the stocking

Stared a splendid dolly!

Next, what most she wanted,

In a golden nut,

With a shining thimble,

Scissors that would cut;

Then a book all pictures,

"Children in the Wood."

And some scarlet mittens

Like her scarlet hood.

Next a charming jump-rope,

New and white and strong;

(Little Polly's stocking

Though small was very long,)

In the heel she fumbled,

"Something soft and warm,"

A rainbow ball of worsted

Which could do no harm.

In the foot came bon-bons,

In the toe a ring,

And some seeds of mignonette

Ready for the spring.

There she sat at daylight

Hugging close dear dolly;

Eating, looking, laughing,

Happy little Polly! 

 

This is a very sweet children's poem written by Louisa May Alcott. It is a poem based on her fantasy and imagination. Louis May Alcott says that "she imagined herself as Polly and the joy she got when she found her Doll ", that's how she wrote this poem about how Polly got a Dolly in her stocking and then she wanted scarlet mittens and some sees of mignoette..She basically talks about the desires of Polly and how overwhelmed she was when she got what she wanted. Its a children's poem in The 18th century which was one of Louisa May's Favourites.

My doves

Opposite my chamber window,

On the sunny roof, at play,

High above the city's tumult,

Flocks of doves sit day by day.

Shining necks and snowy bosoms,

Little rosy, tripping feet,

Twinkling eyes and fluttering wings,

Cooing voices, low and sweet,--

 

Graceful games and friendly meetings,

Do I daily watch and see.

For these happy little neighbors

Always seem at peace to be.

On my window-ledge, to lure them,

Crumbs of bread I often strew,

And, behind the curtain hiding,

Watch them flutter to and fro.

 

Soon they cease to fear the giver,

Quick are they to feel my love,

And my alms are freely taken

By the shyest little dove.

In soft flight, they circle downward,

Peep in through the window-pane;

Stretch their gleaming necks to greet me,

Peck and coo, and come again.

 

Faithful little friends and neighbors,

For no wintry wind or rain,

Household cares or airy pastimes,

Can my loving birds restrain.

Other friends forget, or linger,

But each day I surely know

That my doves will come and leave here

Little footprints in the snow.

 

So, they teach me the sweet lesson,

That the humblest may give

Help and hope, and in so doing,

Learn the truth by which we live;

For the heart that freely scatters

Simple charities and loves,

Lures home content, and joy, and peace, 

 

In this poem Louisa Alcott conveys how doves are faithful, loyal, friendly and giving. She narrates how sweet their voices are and how they circle around the sky. She says there is so much to learn from them and how they teach her to be Humble, Helpful and how by giving simple charities and love  one lures joy, peace ,happiness and content..

Poem : Brighter shone than golden shadows

Brighter shone the golden shadows;

On the cool wind softly came

The low, sweet tones of happy flowers,

Singing little Violet's name.

'Mong the green trees was it whispered,

And the bright waves bore it on

To the lonely forest flowers,

Where the glad news had not gone.




Thus the Frost-King lost his kingdom,

And his power to harm and blight.

Violet conquered, and his cold heart

Warmed with music, love, and light;

And his fair home, once so dreary,

Gay with lovely Elves and flowers,

Brought a joy that never faded

Through the long bright summer hours.




Thus, by Violet's magic power,

All dark shadows passed away,

And o'er the home of happy flowers

The golden light for ever lay.

Thus the Fairy mission ended,

And all Flower-Land was taught

The 'Power of Love,' by gentle deeds

That little Violet wrought. 

 

She talks about love..and how love can conquer every evil. Its about little Violet and her powers are love..He defeats the frost king and his cold heart with music, love and light and got a joy that never faded. She talks about the power oflove and how all the dark shadows and the evil passed away and it was golden light for every lay. It is such a positive and inspiring poem and it shows how much the poet believed in love and gentle deeds.

Period of time.

Alcott, who continued to write until her death, suffered chronic health problems in her later years,including vertigo. She and her earliest biographers attributed her illness and death to mercury poisoning. During her American Civil War service, Alcott contracted typhoid fever and was treated with a compound containing mercury. Recent analysis of Alcott's illness, however, suggests that her chronic health problems may have been associated with an autoimmune disease, not acute mercury exposure. Moreover, a late portrait of Alcott shows rashes on her cheeks, which is a characteristic of lupus.Alcott died at age 55 of a stroke in Boston, on March 6, 1888.Many of her thriller stories and poems were published after she died..She is recognized as the person who wrote LITTLE WOMEN.
Little Women possesses many qualities of the didactic genre, a class of works that have a moral lesson. Little Women does not preach directly to the reader, however, as did much didactic fiction of its time. The narrator refrains from too much explicit moralizing, allowing us to draw our own lessons from the outcome of the story.
Because Jo learns to behave and becomes a lady at the end of the novel, it is possible to assume that Alcott wants to teach her readers that conformity is good. Interestingly, however,  So while Little Women can be called a didactic novel, the question of what it teaches remains open.

Work ,Themes and Prizes..

In 1860, Alcott began writing for the Atlantic Monthly. When the American Civil War broke out, she served as a nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C.. Her letters home – revised and published in the Commonwealth and collected as Hospital Sketches  – brought her first critical recognition for her observations and humor. It was originally written for the Boston anti-slavery paper The Commonwealth. She speaks out about the mismanagement of hospitals and the indifference and callousness of surgeons she encountered. Her main character Trib showed a passage from innocence to maturity and is a "serious and eloquent witness". Her novel Moods (1864), based on her own experience, was also promising.
In the mid-1860s, Alcott wrote passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories under the nom de plume A. M. Barnard. Among these are A Long Fatal Love Chase and Pauline's Passion and Punishment. Her protagonists for these tales are willful and relentless in their pursuit of their own aims, which often include revenge on those who have humiliated or thwarted them. She also produced wholesome stories for children, and after their positive reception, she did not generally return to creating works for adults. Adult-oriented exceptions include the anonymous novelette A Modern Mephistopheles (1875), which attracted suspicion that it was written by Julian Hawthorne; and the semi-autobiographical tale Work (1873).
Alcott became even more successful with the publication by the Roberts Brothers of the first part of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Part two, or Part Second, also known as Good Wives (1869), followed the March sisters into adulthood and their respective marriages. Little Men (1871) detailed Jo's life at the Plumfield School that she founded with her husband Professor Bhaer at the conclusion of Part Two of Little Women. Jo's Boys (1886) completed the "March Family Saga".
In Little Women, Alcott based her heroine "Jo" on herself. But whereas Jo marries at the end of the story, Alcott remained single throughout her life. She explained her "spinsterhood" in an interview with Louise Chandler Moulton, "because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man." However, Alcott's romance while in Europe with Ladislas "Laddie" Wisniewski was detailed in her journals but then deleted by Alcott herself before her death. Alcott identified Laddie as the model for Laurie in Little Women, and there is strong evidence this was the significant emotional relationship of her life. Likewise, every character seems to be paralleled to some extent, from Beth's death mirroring Lizzie's to Jo's rivalry with the youngest, Amy, as Alcott felt a sort of rivalry for May, at times.Though Alcott never married, she did take in May's daughter, Louisa, after May's death in 1879 from childbed fever, caring for little "Lulu" until her death^.
Little Women was well received, with critics and audiences finding it suitable for many age groups. A reviewer of Eclectic Magazine called it "the very best of books to reach the hearts of the young of any age from six to sixty, It was also said to be a fresh, natural representation of daily life

Introduction

Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832-March 6, 1888) was the second daughter of  Bronson May and Abigail Alcott. She has a sister named Anna Alcott, The girls were mostly educated at home. "I never went to school," Louisa wrote, "except to my father or such governesses as from time to time came into the family. . . . so we had lessons each morning in the study. And very happy hours they were to us, for my father taught in the wise way which unfolds what lies in the child's nature as a flower blooms, rather than crammed it, like a Strasburg goose, with more than it could digest. I never liked arithmetic nor grammar . . . but reading, writing, composition, history, and geography I enjoyed, as well as the stories read to us with a skill peculiarly his own."
 Her first story, "The Rival Painters, A Tale of Rome" was written at the Hillside house in 1848 and published four years later in Olive Branch. By that time, the Alcotts were back in Boston, where they lived at five different addresses between 1849 and 1852. The two older girls contributed to the meager family income by teaching. Louisa's unhappy few weeks with a Dedham family were recorded in her essay, "How I Went Out to Service." Publisher James T. Fields rejected the piece and advised her: "Stick to your teaching, Miss Alcott. You can't write." Disheartened but determined, she continued to write, gradually learning how to produce what would sell. On her own in Boston she also took in sewing and served occasionally as governess. Living as frugally as possible, she sent home almost all the money she earned..
 She continued to produce her stream of children's books and wrote an adult novel, A Modern Mephistopheles, published in 1877. Spending considerable time in Boston, she sometimes shared her rooms at the Bellevue Hotel with her sister May and also provided her with art lessons. They went abroad together, and May was able to establish herself as an artist in London. She married Ernest Nieriker and settled with him in Paris but died a few weeks after the birth of a daughter named after Louisa. She left the baby to Alcott. In September, 1880, "Lulu" arrived in Boston and gave Alcott's life a new focus. She delighted to watch the child grow, told her stories and published them as Lulu's Library.
As Alcott's health continued to fail, she tried various doctors and "cures." When her father suffered a stroke in 1882, she established a home for him with Anna, her two sons and little Lulu at 10 Louisburg Square in Boston. She herself moved from place to place in search of health and peace to write, settling at last in a Roxbury nursing home. Although only in her mid-fifties, she realized that death might come at any time and legally adopted Anna's son John Pratt. She willed her copyrights in trust to him, stipulating that the income be shared by Anna, Lulu, John and Anna's other son Fred.
On March 1, 1888, Louisa visited her father for the last time."I am going up," he said. "Come with me." "Oh, I wish I could," she replied. Bronson Alcott died on March 4, and Louisa May Alcott on March 6. She was buried in Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord. Her grave bears a Civil War veteran's marker.