Biography : Selected Works :. Felicia Browne was born on September 25, , in Liverpool. She was the fifth of seven children. When her father's business failed about , the family moved first to Gwrych, an isolated Welsh seaside house; then, in , to St. Asaph, Wales. Felicia was a clever child who began to read at an early age and did so voraciously from the well-stocked family library.
She read novels and poetry, learned several languages, and studied music, primarily under the direction of her mother. According to her sister, Felicia "could repeat pages of poetry from her favourite authors, after having read them but once over.
Her first book of Poems was published in It was remarkable work to come from a fourteen-year-old, but it received some harsh reviews. A posthumous commentator stated: " Her poem England and Spain; or Valour and Patriotism was written in an impassioned adolescent imitation of Campbell, probably inspired by her brother's service.
Also serving in Spain was Captain Alfred Hemans, whom she had briefly encountered when he visited in the neighborhood. Her adolescent infatuation did not fade with his absence. On Captain Hemans' return in , the relationship continued to develop. The Domestic Affections and other Poems was published in , just before her marriage to Captain Hemans. After a brief time in Daventry, Northamptonshire, where Captain Hemans was adjutant to the local militia, the Hemans returned to St.
There, all but the first of their five sons were born. Hemans continued to write prolifically. Her style from this era is coloured by her reading of Byron. He was not displeased by her adoption of his style, and wrote to his publisher that The Restoration of the Works of Art to Italy was "a good poem - very" and that he planned to take it with him in his travels. In Captain Hemans went to Rome. He left behind his wife and five small sons, all under 6 years of age. There seems to have been a private agreement to separate, because they never saw each other after that.
