Marguerite Helen Power
Marguerite Helen Power | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 January 1870 Mount Joy, Campbell Town, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 27 November 1957 (aged 87) South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Relatives | Robert Power (grandfather) Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (great aunt) |
Marguerite Helen Power (6 January 1870 – 27 November 1957) was an Australian poet.
Biography
Power was born on 6 January 1870 at Mount Joy (now known as Balvaird), on the outskirts of Campbell Town, Tasmania, Australia.[1][2][3] She was named for her great aunt, Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington.[2] Her parents were Thomas Power, council clerk of Campbell Town, and Anstie Munro (née Hull).[4] On her paternal side, she was the granddaughter of the British Army officer Surveyor General of Tasmania, Robert Power,[5][6] who was born in Ireland.[7]
Power grew up in Campbell Town, receiving little formal education, but learned to read in her fathers library and studied the French and Italian languages as a teenager.[1] Power moved to the Tasmanian capital Hobart in 1902, where she ran a guest-house with her sister.[1][6]
Between 1909 and 1932, Power contributed poems to the Bulletin, Lone Hand and Australasian.[3][6] Her poems dwelled on themes including "death, love, growing old, the loss of friends and the persistence of the past in the present."[3] Power's work was included in The Australian Poetry Annual (1920)[6] and Louis Lavater's The Sonnet in Australasia (1926).[1] Her works were also collected into two anthologies, Poems (1934) and A Lute with Three Strings (1964), both with introductions written by Clive Samson.[3] Power also held adult literacy classes and later joined a poetry reading group in Hobart.[1][4]
Power died on 27 November 1957 in South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.[1] Her archives are held in the Clive Samson Collection at the University of Tasmania.[4][8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Scott, Margaret, "Marguerite Helen Power (1870–1957)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 12 August 2025, retrieved 4 January 2026
- ^ a b Giordano, Margaret; Norman, Don (1984). Tasmanian Literary Landmarks. Shearwater Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-0-9592081-0-8.
- ^ a b c d Wilde, William H.; Hooton, Joy; Andrews, Barry (2005). "Power, Helen". The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195533811.
- ^ a b c "Marguerite Helen Power - University of Tasmania". sparc.utas.edu.au. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
- ^ Adelaide, Debra (1988). Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide. Pandora. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-86358-148-9.
- ^ a b c d "Helen Power". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
- ^ Love, A. R., "Robert Power (1794–1869)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, archived from the original on 6 December 2025, retrieved 4 January 2026
- ^ "Helen Power: personal papers". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 4 January 2026.