“High Priestess of Poetry”

Published as part of the exhibition Harriet Monroe & the Open Door

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The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

The intent of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage to the Americas and to enhance collaboration and mutual engagement among the United States and other countries. Various events actively promoted the industrial advancement of a new United States, a vision in stark contrast with the country’s deep economic recession during that time. Representatives from different countries saw the World’s Fair as a platform to promote ideas and represent their cultures. 

Setting aside sectarian differences within the Christian tradition, the Fair’s organizers hoped to vindicate the idea of a universal church. In conjunction with other Fair activities, the specific goal of the Parliament of Religions was to stir a “wide-reaching interest in the study of religions” founded on American religious and cultural values that would elicit deeper interest from other countries. Many delegates from the Parliament endorsed the ideas the organizers presented and benefited from close associations with them. In contrast, very few, including India’s Swami Vivekananda, called out the lack of inclusive discussions based on genuine and mutual respect for multiple and often contradictory perspectives concerning culture and religion. 

Harriet Monroe's Introduction to Swami Vivekananda

A young Harriet Monroe was present when Swami Vivekananda rose to speak in front of 7,000 people at the opening of the Parliament of Religions on September 11, 1893. Having lost his luggage and money and with no notes or remarks prepared in advance, the Swami implicitly relied on his lived experiences, knowledge, and daily spiritual practices to share a vision of building bridges across different social, cultural, and religious ideas. Clad in “modern” clothes, the young Swami was bold and assertive, provoking differences of religious and cultural ideas from India.

Swami Vivekananda also spoke at the September 14th inauguration of the Women’s Building at the World’s Fair. Unfortunately, we don’t know the specific remarks the Swami and other delegates made about women, which is not surprising given the lack of attention to and documentation of women and their work at the Fair. However, the events were significant for the Swami: he found supporters and followers and came to rely on women and their networks to promote his message of religious inclusivity through interfaith dialogue in the United States and globally.

According to newspaper reports covering the events, there were several moments of applause and appreciation for Swamiji. As one who invited, guided, and challenged audiences to explore diverse and inclusive ideas concerning religion and culture, Swamiji's perspectives and the newness of his ideas made him a transformational, controversial figure at the Fair.

Meetings and Appreciation Among Poets

From the standpoint of Harriet Monroe, Swami Vivekananda was the most interesting personality at the World’s Fair Parliament of Religions. Based on the available records of his meetings and encounters with American audiences during his stay in the United States, it is apparent that the hype about the Swami was real. According to her autobiography, A Poet’s Life, Monroe made no effort to hear Vivekananda speak again after his inaugural address on September 11 because his was a perfect performance impossible to repeat or replicate. Her personal impressions of the Swami and others and her curiosity and openness to ideas and people suggest her approach to editing and curation was based on hopes for inclusivity, mutual engagement, and openness to diverse perspectives.

Monroe also interacted with Rabindranath Tagore, a poet and contemporary of Vivekananda. Tagore was an admirer and acknowledged Swamiji’s influence, saying, "If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him, there is everything positive and nothing negative.” Tagore spent time with Monroe and other poets, including William Vaughn Moody, during which “he talked also about his native country and the meaning of that huge word India.”

Tagore’s poems and poetry, like the Swami’s message, “expressed tribute to the Universal God of all races and creeds.” According to Monroe, both leaders shared ideas of what the United States and Europe could learn from the ancient ideals of India. The less controversial Tagore hoped for more friendly consideration from colonial governments of the day, but both were alike in their impact on the future of Western cultural and spiritual thought. Upon returning home, Swamiji and Tagore dominated the cultural and social scene in India.

Engaging Oppression and Complication

Vivekananda, Tagore, and the Monroe sisters are models of responsibility and solidarity with the disenfranchised. As an American, Monroe enjoyed a privileged identity in several spheres of her life; however, as a woman, she was underprivileged. Swamiji and Tagore were highly visible as colonized and oppressed Indian men in the United States, which contrasts with privileges their gender, caste, and social class afforded them in India. Even as they navigated tensions arising from their dominant, oppressed identities, they strove to understand, empathize, act, and support other voices and ideas from the margins.

The Swami and, to a lesser extent, Monroe and Tagore engaged intensively with the general public and held their own even in exchanges that were fundamentally unequal, especially when some of their harshest critics wielded enormous privileges. In redirecting these criticisms, they garnered more attention to their work. By viewing the world through a framework of contending narratives, these thought leaders shaped and influenced universal values of acceptance, tolerance, and inclusivity that endure and are even more relevant in today’s urgent times.

Building Bridges Today

In 2023, Vivekananda's and to some extent Monroe’s persistent efforts to address existing inequities and establish transformational changes are clearly visible, even amid their own privileges and their apparent missteps. Their stories communicate the lasting importance of contributing to building bridges and working both broadly and deeply from a space of compassion, especially while relating to and engaging with others in imperfect and very human ways.

Title quote, “High Priestess of [American] Poetry”: Source, New York Herald Tribune headline, March 13, 1938 issue.