Levy, Amy (1861–1889)

English poet and novelist of Jewish descent. Born at Clapham, London, England, on November 10, 1861; committed suicide on September 10, 1889; second daughter of Lewis Levin (an editor) and Isabelle Levin; educated at Newnham College, Cambridge (the first Jewish woman to matriculate there).

Called the forgotten poet, Amy Levy showed a precocious aptitude for writing verse of exceptional merit and, in 1884, published A Minor Poet and Other Verse. Some of the pieces had already been printed at Cambridge under the title Xantippe and contained strong feminist views. The high level of this first publication was continued in A London Plane Tree and Other Poems, a collection of lyrics published in 1889, in which Levy's despondency was apparent. In 1888, she had already tried her hand at prose fiction in The Romance of a Shop, which was followed by Reuben Sachs, a powerful novel and "bold delineation of Jewish life" that caused controversy in London.

Not much is known of Levy's last days. One writer maintains she worked in a loom factory; another has her living in a garrett; the next depicts her as a teacher in London. What is known is that on September 10, 1889, a week after correcting proofs on A London Plane Tree, Amy Levy committed suicide at 7, Endsleigh Gardens, by suffocating herself with charcoal fumes. The coroner noted on the death certificate: "self destruction … cause unknown."

Richard Garnett speculated, however, that the cause might have been worries over a growing deafness, the fear of insanity, and grief over losses in her family. Whatever the reason, a writer of great potential and praiseworthy accomplishment has been passed over. At the time of her death, Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote a poem in her honor; Oscar Wilde dubbed her "a genius." Her work, said the critics, held "prophetic notes" of future power.