[1][2] Regarded as the leading female poet of her day, Hemans was immensely popular during her lifetime in both England and the United States, and was second only to Lord Byron in terms of sales.

[5] Felicia Dorothea Browne was the daughter of George Browne, who worked for his father-in-law's wine importing business and succeeded him as Tuscan and imperial consul in Liverpool, and Felicity, daughter of Benedict Paul Wagner (1718–1806), wine importer at 9 Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool and Venetian consul for that city.

They lived in a cottage within the grounds of Gwrych Castle near Abergele[7] when Felicia was seven years old until she was sixteen[8] and in 1809 moved to Bronwylfa, St. Asaph (Flintshire).

"[13] Hemans' first poems, dedicated to the Prince of Wales, were published in Liverpool in 1808, when she was fourteen,[14] arousing the interest of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who briefly corresponded with her.

The boy stood on the burning deck, Whence all but he had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead.

The following year, the show was put on again at Edinburgh with greater success with Harriet Siddons reciting the epilogue written by Sir Walter Scott (who became Felicia's cordial friend), an alteration which was requested by Joanna Baillie.

[22] Hemans' major collections, including The Forest Sanctuary (Which started in 1824 and published in 1825), Records of Woman and Songs of the Affections (1830) were highly popular.

[23][24] Hemans published many of her pieces in magazines first, enabling her to remain in the public eye and adapt to her audience, as well as earning additional income.

[28][29][30] On 30 July 1812, Felicia Browne married Captain Alfred Hemans, an Irish army officer some years older than herself.

Several volumes of poetry were published by the respected firm of John Murray in the period after 1816, beginning with The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy (1816) and Modern Greece (1817).

The collection Tales and Historic Scenes came out in 1819, which she was awarded £50 (equivalent to ~£3,600 in 2024) for the best poem on The Meeting of Wallace and Bruce on the Banks of the Carron, this year would also be Hemans' separation.

[33] In 1825, one of Felicia's brothers purchased her home at Bronwylfa and she moved to Rhyllon near the River Clwyd, her time there would the most tranquil period of her life.

[35][36] One of the reasons why Hemans was able to write prolifically as a single parent, was that many of the domestic duties of running a household were taken over by her mother, with whom she and her children lived.

For surviving female poets,[48] such as Caroline Norton,[49] Letitia Elizabeth Landon,[44] Lydia Sigourney[45] and Frances Harper,[50] the French Amable Tastu[51] and German Annette von Droste-Hülshoff,[52] she was a valued model.

[56] Among the works she valued most were the unfinished "Superstition and Revelation" and the pamphlet "The Sceptic," which sought an Anglicanism more attuned to world religions and women's experiences.

Amidst their tall ancestral trees, O'er all the pleasant land; The deer across their greensward bound Through shade and sunny gleam, And the swan glides past them with the sound Of some rejoicing stream.

Anthologised poems include "The Image in Lava," "Evening Prayer at a Girls' School," "I Dream of All Things Free", "Night-Blowing Flowers", "Properzia Rossi", "A Spirit's Return", "The Bride of the Greek Isle", "The Wife of Asdrubal", "The Widow of Crescentius", "The Last Song of Sappho", "Corinne at the Capitol" and "The Coronation of Inez De Castro".

The poem is sung in ballad form (abab) and consists of a boy asking his father whether he had fulfilled his duties, as the ship continues to burn until the magazine catches fire.

Hemans adds the following note to the poem: 'Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the Admiral of the Orient, remained at his post (in the Battle of the Nile) after the ship had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned, and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder.

Her second book, England and Spain, or, Valour and Patriotism, was published in 1808 and was a narrative poem honouring her brother and his military service in the Peninsular War.

[77] The suicides of women in Hemans's poetry dwell on the same social issue that was confronted both culturally and personally during her life: the choice of caged domestication or freedom of thought and expression.

None of the heroines are complacent with the tragedies that befall them, and the women ultimately take their own lives in either a final grasp for power and expression or a means to escape victimisation.

Torches were blazing clear, Hymns pealing deep and slow, Where a king lay stately on his bier In the church of Fontevraud.