Elise Justine Bayard

Elise Justine Bayard Cutting (August 16, 1823 – 1853) was an American poet from New York.

Early life

Elise Justine Bayard was born in Fishkill, New York, Bayard was the daughter of Robert Bayard (1797–1878) and Elizabeth McEvers, both members of old New York families. Her father, along with her uncle, Robert Fulton, were partners in the ferry from Brooklyn to New York. Another uncle was Stephen Van Rensselaer IV, the last patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. Her paternal grandfather, William Bayard Jr. (1761–1826), was a prominent New York City banker who was a close friend to Alexander Hamilton, who died at Bayard's home after his famous duel with Aaron Burr.

Career

Bayard Cutting penned what scholars have called "unremarkable" verse about common subjects. She published frequently in The Knickerbocker and the Literary World and was identified as a promising young author in a column written by Sarah Josepha Hale. It is difficult to definitively assign many poems to her as they were often unsigned or only initialed with her maiden initials, E.J.B., or her married ones, E.B.C..

An example of her sonnet is:

Sprung from the arid rock devoid of soil,In vig'rous life I saw one blade of wheat, Bearing its precious grain, full-lobed and sweet, Remote from eye of him whose lusty toil In other harvest recompense hath found; And it seemed good to me that labour should Beyond its aim or asking thus abound, While reaping to itself its purchased food: So, too, from him, who the prolific thought Sows in the cultured field of intellect, A wandering breath its course may intersect, And bear an embryo with rich promise fraught Within some barren soul to germinate, And fill with fruitful life what else were desolate.