author
Ellen Tracy Alden
1846–1880
A 19th-century American writer remembered for thoughtful poems and prose, she moved in literary circles while also working as an editor and contributor to magazines. Her life was short, but her work left a clear impression on readers of her time.
1 Audiobook
Stories and ballads for young folks
by Ellen Tracy Alden
About the author
Born in New Hampshire in 1846, Ellen Tracy Alden became known as an American poet and writer in the later 19th century. Biographical reference pages identify her as a contributor to periodicals and literary publications, and she is remembered as part of the generation of women writers whose work appeared widely in magazines and books.
Alden's career seems to have blended creative writing with editorial work, which was a common path for literary women of her era. She died in 1880, still young, and much of her reputation now survives through historical reference works rather than a large modern readership.
Because the surviving online material about her is limited, some details of her life are less consistently documented than those of better-known authors. Even so, the record that remains presents her as a serious literary figure whose poems and prose were valued in her own day.