Lillian Rozell Messenger

Lillian Rozell Messenger
"A Woman of the Century"
Born	Lillian T. Rozell c. 1843 or c. 1853 Kentucky, U.S.
Died	October 1, 1921
Pen name	Zena Clifton
Occupation	Poet
Language	English
Alma mater	Forest Hill Seminary
Spouse	North Allen Messenger ​ ​ (m. 1861)​
Children	1 son

Lillian Rozell Messenger (née, Rozell; pen name, Zena Clifton; c. 1843 or 1853 – October 1, 1921) was an American poet from Kentucky. Among her first acknowledged poems were those brought out in a volume entitled, Threads of fate, 1872. Other volumes included Fragments from an old inn, 1885; The Vision of gold, 1886; and The Southern Cross, 1891. "Columbus" was read by Governor John Wesley Hoyt of Wyoming Territory during the patriotic celebration at the Woman's Building, World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. "In the heart of America," was read at the Cotton States and International Exposition, in Atlanta, 1895.^[1] Messenger contributed many poems to the Louisville Journal, Memphis papers, and the New York Home Journal. Her most ambitious poems were lengthy, narrative ones, with themes such as "Charlotte Corday" and "Penelope, the Wife of Ulysses".^[2] Messenger died in 1921.