Best known work

• Melaia and other Poems, 1838

Other well known work(s)

• Lays of a Wild Harp, 1835
• Eliza Cook's Journal, 1849

Genres

• Poetry
• Politics / Philosophy / Essays

Nom de plume

E.C

Social class

Working class

Parental background

Her father was a tinman and brazier. Cook was self-educated.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 26
• Marital status: Unmarried
• Number of children: 0

Physical description

"A woman who prided herself on her tiny hands and feet, Cook dressed in unconventionally masculine attire and wore her hair short" (Solveig C. Robinson, ODNB). This propensity towards masculinity is observed in Bow Bells: A magazine of general literature and art for family reading in the observation that "nearly all the portraits of this lady which have hitherto been issued, represent her as strong in feature, heavy, though intellectual in expression, and rather redundant in figure, but in life, Eliza Cook is seen to be of a mould unusually feminine; with a face of quiet and refined intelligence, and altogether exhibiting those traits of womanly delicacy" (Aug 3, 1864).

Did you know?

Cook was romantically linked to the American actress Charlotte Cushman, to whom she devoted passionate poetic tributes.

Additional information

A brief overview of Cook's life and works is available at The Orlando Project (full record is subscription only). An example of the journal which she edited and contributed towards.