Charlotte Turner Smith (1749 – 1806) was an English poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility.
It was in 1784, in debtor's prison with her husband Benjamin, that she wrote and published her first work, Elegiac Sonnets. The work achieved instant success, allowing Charlotte to pay for their release from prison. Smith's sonnets helped initiate a revival of the form and granted an aura of respectability to her later novels.
Stuart Curran, the editor of Smith's poems, has written that Smith is "the first poet in England whom in retrospect we would call Romantic". She helped shape the "patterns of thought and conventions of style" for the period. Romantic poet William Wordsworth was the most affected by her works. He said of Smith in the 1830s that she was "a lady to whom English verse is under greater obligations than are likely to be either acknowledged or remembered". By the second half of the nineteenth century, however, Smith was largely forgotten.
Sonnet ISonnet II. Written at the close of SpringSonnet III. To a NightingaleSonnet IV. To the MoonSonnet V. To the South DownsSonnet VI. To HopeSonnet VII. On the Departure of the NightingaleSonnet VIII. To SpringSonnet IX.Sonnet X. To Mrs. G.Sonnet XI. To SleepSonnet XII. Written on the Sea ShoreSonnet XIII. From PetrarchSonnet XIV. From PetrarchSonnet XV. From PetrarchSonnet XVI. From PetrarchSonnet XVII. From the 13th Cantata of MetastasioSonnet XVIII. To the Earl of EgremontSonnet XIX. To Mr. HayleySonnet XX. To the Countess of A----Sonnet XXI. Supposed to be written by WerterSonnet XXII. By the sameSonnet XXIII. By the sameSonnet XXIV. By the sameSonnet XXV. By the sameSonnet XXVI. To the River ArunSonnet XXVII.Sonnet XXVIII. To FriendshipSonnet XXIX. To Miss C----Sonnet XXX. To the River ArunSonnet XXXI. Written on Farm Wood, on the South Downs, May 1784Sonnet XXXII. To Melancholy. Written on the Banks of the ArunSonnet XXXIII. To the Naiad of the ArunSonnet XXXIV. To a FriendSonnet XXXV. To FortitudeSonnet XXXVI.Sonnet XXXVII. Sent to the Honourable Mrs O'Neill with painted flowersSonnet XXXVIII. From the Novel of EmmelineSonnet XXXIX. To Night. From the sameSonnet XL. From the sameSonnet XLI. To TranquilitySonnet XLII. Composed during a walk on the Downs, in November 1787Sonnet XLIII.Sonnet XLIV. Written in the Church-yard at Middleton in SussexSonnet XLV. On leaving a part of SussexSonnet XLVI. Written at Penshurst, in Autumn 1788Sonnet XLVII. To FancySonnet XLVIII. To Mrs. ****Sonnet XLIX. From the Novel of CelestinaSonnet L. From the sameSonnet LI. From the sameSonnet LII. From the sameSonnet LIII. From the sameSonnet LIV. The Sleeping WoodmanSonnet LV. The Return of the NightingaleSonnet LVI. The Captive escaped in the Wilds of AmericaSonnet LVII. To DependenceSonnet LVIII. The Glow-wormSonnet LIX. Written Sept. 1791, during a remarkable Thunder StormOde to Despair. From the Novel of EmmelineElegySong. From the French of Cardinal BernisThe Origin of FlatteryThe Peasant of the AlpsSongThirty-eightVerses intended to have been prefixed to the Novel of EmmelineSonnet LX. To an amiable GirlSonnet LXI. Supposed to have been written in AmericaSonnet LXII. Written on passing by Moon-light through a village, while the ground was covered with SnowSonnet LXIII. The GossamerSonnet LXIV. Written at Bristol in the Summer of 1794Sonnet LXV. To Dr Parry of Bath, with some Botanic Drawings which had been made some yearsSonnet LXVI. Written in a tempestuous night, on the coast of SussexSonnet LXVII. On passing over a dreary tract of country, and near the ruins of a deserted chapel, during a tempestSonnet LXVIII. Written at Exmouth, Mid-summer 1795Sonnet LXIX. Written at the same place, on seeing a Seaman return who had been imprisoned at RochfortSonnet LXX. On being cautioned against walking on a Headland overlooking the Sea, because it was frequented by a LunaticSonnet LXXI. Written at Weymouth in WinterSonnet LXXII. To the Morning Star. Written near the SeaSonnet LXXIII. To a Querulous AcquaintanceSonnet LXXIV. The Winter NightSonnet LXXV.Sonnet LXXVI. To a Young Man entering the worldSonnet LXXVII. To the Insect of the GossamerSonnet LXXVIII. Snow-dropsSonnet LXXIX. To the Goddess of BotanySonnet LXXX. To the Invisible MoonSonnet LXXXI.Sonnet LXXXII. To the Shade of BurnsSonnet LXXXIII. The Sea viewSonnet LXXXIV. To the MuseThe Dead BeggarThe Female ExileOccasional Address. Written for the Benefit of a distressed Player, detained at Brighthelmstone for debt, November 1792Inscription on a Stone in the Church-Yard at Boreham, in EssexA descriptive OdeVerses supposed to have been written in the New Forest, in early SpringSong. From the FrenchApostrophe to an Old TreeThe Forest BoyOde to the Poppy. Written by a deceased FriendVerses written by the same Lady on seeing her two Sons at playVerses on the Death of the same Lady, written in September 1794Fragment, descriptive of the Miseries of WarAprilOde to Death
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