Susan Archer Weiss (, Talley; February 14, 1822 – April 7, 1917) was an American poet. Losing her hearing as a child, she rarely mingled in society beyond a select circle of friends, finding her happiness in her home. Her life was essentially that of a poet, though she also painted. In September 1859, a collection of her poems was issued by Rudd & Carlton, of New York City. Her name was included among those of young writers in American Female Poets, Sarah Josepha Hale's Woman's Record, and other similar works. Weiss was a friend of Edgar Allan Poe. She died in 1917.
Early life and education
Susan Archer Talley was born in Hanover County, Virginia, February 14, 1822, on the plantation of her paternal grandfather. She was descended from a French Huguenot who, escaping the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, fled to the United States, and settled in Virginia. This grandfather served in Lee's Legion of the American Revolutionary War. Her father studied law under Judge Robert Taylor of Norfolk, Virginia. Her mother was a daughter of Captain Archer, of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Norfolk.
Weiss passed her first eight years on the plantation, after which, the family moved to Richmond, Virginia, when on account of ill health, her father had resigned the practice of his profession, and retired. It was in Richmond that she entered school. Though of an exceedingly happy temperament, Weiss rarely mingled with other children, but would spend most of her time in reading, study, or in wandering amid the woods and meadows that surrounded her father's residence.
At nine years of age, she suddenly and entirely lost her hearing due to scarlet fever, making it necessary to remove her from school. She had been quick at learning, and in the brief period of her school life, had advanced rapidly, so that the slight knowledge thus acquired served as a foundation for her future self-education. When she was ten years old, she developed a talent for drawing, which her father took pains to cultivate. Her crayon drawings, many of them original in design, and especially her miniature portraits, were remarkable for their execution and finish. She exhibited equal skill in watercolors and oil painting.
At the age of eleven, by accident, some of her verses were read by her father. He showed them to Benjamin Blake Minor, editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, who published them in his magazine, where, in a few years, her contributions attracted much attention.
It may be said that from the time when she left school until she was sixteen, her life was passed in the solitude of her home, where she seemed to derive from books a constant and ever-increasing enjoyment. It was not until she was in her fifteenth year that the nature and force of her talents were noticed by her most intimate associates. She became interested in the work of her cousin, the sculptor, Alexander Gait (1827- 1863), and spent many hours in his studio. One day he gave her a small block of plaster, out of which, without assistance or model, she cut with a pen-knife a female head so plainly the work of genius that Gait took it with him to Italy, where it was seen by Thomas Crawford and Horatio Greenough, who were enthusiastic in their desire that she should devote herself to sculpture, but her father's death hindered her from doing so.