A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Dinnies, Anna Peyre
DINNIES, ANNA PEYRE,
A poetess known at first under the name of Moina was born in (Georgetown, South Carolina. Her father. Judge Shackieford, removed to Charleston when Anna was a child, where she was educated. In 1830, Miss Shackieford married John C. Dinnies, of St. Louis, Missouri, where she has since resided. The poetry of Mrs. Dinnies is characterized by vigour of thought and delicate tenderness of feeling. There is something exceedingly fascinating in the display of intellectual power, when it seems entirely devoted to the happiness of others. It is genius performing the office of a guardian angel. There is a fervidness in the expressions of this writer, which goes to the heart of the reader at once, and exalts the strain, no matter what the theme may be. In the regions of imagination she does not soar far or often; the wild and mysterious are not her passion; but the holy fire of poesy burns pure and bright in her heart, and she cherishes it to illumine and bless her own hearth. The genius that has warmed into summer beauty a frozen "Chrysanthemum," that "peerless picture of a modest wife," should be cherished and encouraged; for this "beauty-making power" it is which most essentially aids religious truths to refine and purify social and domestic life. Besides her contributions to periodicals, Mrs. Dinnies prepared a handsome volume, "The Floral Year," published in 1847.