For decades during her lifetime, Eliza R. Snow was known primarily as “Zion’s Poetess,” lifting the Saints through her private writings and hymns while remaining safely behind the scenes. But when Brigham Young called her to reorganize the Relief Society across Utah Territory in 1868, she was forced to step out of her comfort zone and into a highly public, vocal ministry. How did a woman who was terrified of public speaking become one of the most prolific and influential orators in the 19th-century Church, leaving behind a staggering record of nearly 1,300 discourses? A recent interview over at the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, features archivist Sharalyn D. Howcroft—an editor of the newly published Rise Up and Speak: Selected Discourses of Eliza R. Snow—who explores Eliza’s profound theology of resilience, her views on the “curse of Eve,” and how she inadvertently trained Utah women for a political war.

The Cost of Eternal Glory: Eliza R. Snow’s Counsel About Overcoming Trials

The “Pit-a-Pat” Heart and the Political Training Ground

It is easy to imagine Eliza R. Snow as a fearless, natural-born leader, but the interview reveals a much more relatable, anxious figure. When Brigham Young extended the call for her to travel and speak, she admitted her heart went “pit-a-pat.” Yet, she pushed through her anxiety out of a sense of spiritual obligation—and then demanded the women of the Church do the same.

Snow was aware that many women in the church were reticent to speak in public, yet she regarded Relief Society and Retrenchment Association meetings as ideal settings for women to practice and hone their public speaking skills. … She instructed women who didn’t think they had anything to say to just stand up in meetings and thoughts would come to their minds.

This context recasts these early auxiliary meetings. They weren’t just spiritual gatherings; they were incubators for female empowerment. As Howcroft notes, this ecclesiastical training “effectively prepared women of Utah Territory to become visible and vocal opponents of anti-polygamy legislation” in the national political arena.

The Brain, Bone, and Sinew of Zion

Snow’s discourses often tackled the immense suffering of the pioneer Saints. In one famous speech regarding the handcart emigration (delivered before the tragedy of the Willie and Martin companies was fully known), she refused to view their extreme poverty as a disadvantage.

Snow compared the handcart pioneers to the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, noting that although the handcart pioneers did not possess worldly wealth, they arrived with the brain, bone, and sinew requisite to build a temple of God, where they would receive exquisite heavenly raiment and participate in the work of salvation.

This is a powerful reframing of pioneer history. To Snow, the physical deprivations of the trail were precisely what forged the spiritual muscle necessary to build the Kingdom. As Howcroft summarizes Snow’s worldview: “Trials are the personal cost for eternal glory.”

Justifying Plural Marriage

Perhaps the most challenging historical insight from the interview is how Snow theologically justified the practice of plural marriage. She didn’t just see it as a difficult commandment; she tied it directly to overcoming the Fall.

Snow framed Latter-day Saint polygamy as a collective good that enabled women to advance in the kingdom of God and schooled them in a way that transcended their failings.

She encouraged looking to higher purposes and not being absorbed in trivial things or the inequities of worldly possessions. …

Snow said the fall of Eve occurred through disobedience and that it was obedience that would bring women back into the presence of God. Her rhetoric about the curse of Eve was intrinsically connected to “honoring God in all the institutions He has revealed to us,” which for her included plural marriage.

By framing polygamy as the ultimate test of obedience, Snow believed it was the specific crucible through which 19th-century women could transcend the “curse” of the Fall. While the Church’s practice has changed, and thus the teachings about polygamy have fallen by the wayside (and rightly so), Howcroft notes that Snow’s underlying principle—”undeviating obedience to God’s revealed word”—remains a cornerstone of her legacy.

For more on Eliza R. Snow‘s memories of Kirtland, her use of poetry to process trauma, and the painstaking archival work required to compile her speeches, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history blog, From the Desk, to read the full interview with Sharalyn Howcroft.