Woman of the Century/Gertrude Bloede

BLOEDE, Miss Gertrude, poet, born in Dresden, Germany, 10th August, 1845. Her father and mothe r were among the refugees who fled from Germany in consequence of the revolution GERTRUD BLOEDE. of 1848. In this country they were intimate friends of Bayard Taylor, at whose house they met Stedman, Stoddard, Aldrich and other well-known American poets and authors. Miss Bloede was naturally impelled, by her surroundings and her talents, to literary effort, and in 187S she published "Angelo " Miss Bloede used the pen- name "Stuart Sterne" in her first works, and even after that name had becomr widely known, very few readers were aware that its owner was a woman. Before the appearance of "Angelo," she had published a small volume of short poems, which bore no publisher's imprint. The little volume was favorably reviewed at great length in the New York "Times," and she learned, after much inquiry, that the notice was written by Richard Grant White, who was greatly impressed by the quality of the work. That was her first enseal recognition, and she dedicated " Angelo," which she had already finished, to Mr. White, That eminent critic read the manuscript, and on his representations a prominent Boston house published it. Its success was instantaneous. Since its appearance, in 1878, it has passed through sixteen editions. Since that year she has published three notable volumes, "Giorgio" (Boston, 1881), a long poem," Beyond the Shadows and Other Poems" (Boston, 1888), and "Pierod da Castiglione" (Boston, 1890), a story in verse of the time of Savonarola. In all her books she has used her pen-name, "Stuart Sterne," which, she says, she adopted, as many other female writers have done, because men's work is considered stronger than women's, and she wished her work to be judged by the highest standards and to stand or fall on its own merits. She has lived in Brooklyn since 1861, making her home with her sister, the wife of Dr. S. T. King. She recently summed up her work and personality thus briefly and modestly: "There is very little to tell. I have published five volumes of poems, and that is all. I live very quietly. I go into society but little, and I do not belong to anything." Miss Bloede professes to find in the city the seclusion which pastoral poets find in rural life. She is an artist in human passions, not in mere word and scene painting. She is dramatic in instinct, and that quality illumines all her work, though none of her productions have been cast in dramatic form. Although she goes into society but little, she numbers among her friends the most prominent literary people of New York. She is not a member of any of the women's organizations in Brooklyn, as she feels that the artwork of societies from which men are excluded amounts to little. She is interested in art and music and is a lowr and student of languages, speaking English, French and German with fluency, and reads Dutch, Italian and Latin with ease. Among her latest productions is a novel, "The Story of Two Lives" (New York, 1892).