The Second Book of Modern Verse Part 41

Anderson, Margaret Steele. [1867-1921] (2) Born in Louisville, Ky., and educated in the public schools of that city, with special courses at Wellesley College. Since 1901 Miss Anderson has been Literary Editor of the 'Evening Post' of Louisville, and is known as one of the most discriminating critics of the South.

She has published but one volume of verse, "The Flame in the Wind", 1914, but it is choice in quality. Miss Anderson is also a critic of Art and is the author of "A Study of Modern Painting".

Arensberg, Walter Conrad. [1878-1954] (2) Mr. Arensberg has been active in the new movement in poetry and was one of the group who contributed to the yearly collection called "Others".

He is the author of "Idols", 1916.

Baker, Karle Wilson. [1878-1960] (2) Born in Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 13, 1878. Educated in public and private schools at Little Rock and at the University of Chicago.

Mrs. Baker taught for several years in Virginia and in the High Schools of Little Rock, but in 1901 took up her residence in Texas, whither her family had preceded her, and in 1907 was married to Thomas Ellis Baker, of Nacogdoches, which is her present home.

Mrs. Baker is one of the promising new writers, her first volume of verse, "Blue Smoke", having been published in 1919, by the Yale Press.

Bates, Katharine Lee. [1859-1929] (1) Born at Falmouth, Ma.s.s., Aug. 12, 1859. Was educated at Wellesley College, from which she received the degree of A.B., in 1880 and that of A.M. in 1891.

She also had the honorary degree of Litt.D. conferred upon her by Middlebury College and by Oberlin. She was continuously in educational work, teaching first at Dana Hall and then in Wellesley College, where she was professor and head of the English Department.

Miss Bates spent four years in foreign travel and study and published numerous books in the field of education.

Her best-known volumes of verse are: "America the Beautiful", 1911; "Fairy Gold", 1916; and "The Retinue", 1918.

Benet, Stephen Vincent. [1898-1943] (1) Born at Bethlehem, Pa., 1898. Was educated at the Summerville Academy at Augusta, Ga., and at Yale University, taking the degree of A.B. in 1919 and of A.M. in 1920. His first volume, "Young Adventure", was brought out by the Yale University Press in 1918 and he also contributed largely to the "Yale Book of Student Verse", published in 1919.

Mr. Benet is a gifted young writer from whom much may be expected.

[Brother of William Rose Benet. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1929 for "John Brown's Body" and in 1944 (posthumous) for "Western Star".

See note to William Rose Benet. -- A. L., 1998.]

Benet, William Rose. [1886-1950] (2) Born at Fort Hamilton, N.Y. Harbor, Feb. 2, 1886. Graduated at the Academy of Albany, N.Y., in 1904, and took the degree of Ph.B.

from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1907.

In 1912 he was married to Teresa Frances Thompson, of San Francisco, who died in 1919. Mr. Benet was connected for several years with the 'Century Magazine', first as reader and then as a.s.sistant editor, a position which he resigned to enter the Aviation Corps of the Army, during the World War. He is now one of the literary editors of the 'Evening Post', of New York. His successive volumes of verse are: "Merchants from Cathay", 1912; "The Falconer of G.o.d", 1914; "The Great White Wall", 1916; "The Burglar of the Zodiac", 1918; and "Perpetual Light", 1919.

[Brother of Stephen Vincent Benet. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1942 for "The Dust Which Is G.o.d". Both were members of a talented family, in both military and literary affairs, descended from Minorcan settlers who lived in St. Augustine, Florida. -- A. L., 1998.]

Bradley, William Aspinwall. [1878-1939] (1) Born at Hartford, Conn., Feb. 8, 1878. Educated at Columbia University where he received the degree of A.M. in 1900. Married Miss Grace Goodrich in 1903. From 1900 to 1908 Mr. Bradley was art director and literary advisor to McClure, Phillips & Co. and the McClure Co. and left them to become typographical designer and supervisor of printing at the Yale University Press, where he remained until 1917, when America entered the World War. He then became connected with the War Camp Community Service in which he did excellent work for the period of the war. Mr. Bradley is the author of several books and brochures upon art and particularly upon prints and etchings, such as "French Etchers of the Second Empire", 1916.

In poetry, he is the author of "Garlands and Wayfarings", 1917; "Old Christmas and Other Kentucky Tales in Verse", 1917; "Singing Carr", 1918.

The last two books are based upon Kentucky folk-tales and ballads gathered by Mr. Bradley among the people of the c.u.mberland Mountains.

Branch, Anna Hempstead. [1875-1937] (3) Born at Hempstead House, New London, Conn. Graduated from Smith College in 1897 and from the American Academy of Dramatic Art, in New York City, in 1900. While at college she began writing poetry and the year after her graduation won the first prize offered by the 'Century Magazine' for a poem written by a college graduate.

This poem, "The Road 'Twixt Heaven and h.e.l.l", was printed in the 'Century Magazine' for December, 1898, and was followed soon after by the publication of Miss Branch's first volume, "The Heart of the Road", 1901. She has since published two volumes, "The Shoes That Danced", 1902, and "Rose of the Wind", 1910, both marked by imagination and beauty of a high order.

Burnet, Dana. [1888-1962] (1) Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 3, 1888. Graduated at the Woodward High School of Cincinnati and took the degree of LL.B.

at the Cornell University College of Law in 1911.

Married Marguerite E. Dumary, of Brooklyn, in 1913.

Mr. Burnet has been a.s.sociated with the 'Evening Sun', of New York, since 1911, in various capacities, from that of reporter to editor of the magazine page. He is the author of "Poems", 1915, and "The s.h.i.+ning Adventure", 1916.

Burr, Amelia Josephine. [1878-?] (2) Educated at Hunter College in the City of New York. Miss Burr has published successively the following books of verse: "A Roadside Fire", 1913; "In Deep Places", 1914; "Life and Living", 1916; "The Silver Trumpet", 1918; and "Hearts Awake", 1919. The last two volumes relate chiefly to the World War.

Burt, Maxwell Struthers. [1882-1954] (1) Born at Baltimore, Md., Oct. 18, 1882. Early education at private schools, Philadelphia. Received the degree of A.B. from Princeton University in 1904 and later studied at Merton College, Oxford University.

After two years of teaching at Princeton University, Mr. Burt took up the life of a rancher at Jackson Hole, Wyo., though he usually returns to Princeton for the winter months.

In 1913 he married Katharine Newlin, a writer of fiction.

Mr. Burt is the author of two volumes of verse, "In the High Hills", 1914, and "Songs and Portraits", 1920; he has also written many short stories.

Bynner, Witter. [1881-1968] (5) Born at Brooklyn, Aug. 10, 1881. Graduated at Harvard University in 1902.

After his graduation, until 1906, he served as a.s.sistant editor of 'McClure's Magazine' and literary editor of McClure, Phillips & Co.

Since that time he has devoted himself exclusively to the writing of poetry and drama, with the exception of a year spent as a special lecturer upon Poetry at the University of California.

While at the University, Mr. Bynner's "Canticle of Praise", written to celebrate peace after the World War, was given in the open-air Greek Theatre at Berkeley to an audience of 8000 persons.

Mr. Bynner's first volume, "An Ode to Harvard and Other Poems", was published in 1907, and was followed in 1913 by the poetic drama, "Tiger"; in 1915 by "The New World", amplified from his Phi Beta Kappa Poem delivered at Harvard in 1911; in 1917 by "The Little King", a poetic drama; in 1917 also by "Grenstone Poems", a collection of his lyric work to date.

In 1916, in connection with his friend, Arthur Davison Ficke, Mr. Bynner perpetrated the clever literary hoax of "Spectra", a volume of verse in the ultra-modern manner, designed to establish a new "school" of poetry that should outdo "Imagism" and other cults then in the public eye. These poems, published under the joint authors.h.i.+p of Emanuel Morgan and Anne Knish, created much comment, and in spite of their bizarre features were taken seriously by well-known critics, who were much discomfited when the truth of the matter was known.

In 1919 Mr. Bynner published "The Beloved Stranger", a volume of 'vers libre', written in a style that grew out of the "Spectra" experiment, but divested of its extravagant features.

Carlin, Francis (James F. C. MacDonnell). [1881-?] (2) Born April 7, 1881, at Bay Sh.o.r.e, L.I., N.Y. Educated at St. Mary's Parochial School, Norwalk, Conn. Author of "My Ireland", privately printed, 1917 (taken over by Henry Holt & Co.

and republished in the following year), "The Cairn of Stars", 1920.

Mr. Carlin takes his pen-name from that of his grandfather who was a cottage weaver of linen and a local rhymer in Tyrone, Ireland.

Cleghorn, Sarah N. [1876-1959] (1) Born in Manchester, Vt. Educated at Burr and Burton Seminary, of Manchester.

Miss Cleghorn is the author of "Portraits and Protests", 1917.

Conkling, Grace Hazard. [1878-1958] (3) Born in New York City. Graduated at Smith College in 1899, and later studied music and languages at the University of Heidelberg and at Paris; was for several years a teacher of English, Latin, and Greek in Woodstock, Conn., and in the schools of New York City.

In 1905 she married Roscoe Platt Conkling at San Antonio, Texas, and spent her early married life in Mexico, which inspired some of her most charming lyrics. Since 1914, Mrs. Conkling has been teaching in the English Department of Smith College.

She has published "Afternoons in April", 1915, and "Wilderness Songs", 1920.

Mrs. Conkling is a poet of exceedingly delicate and beautiful touch, and her gift seems to have been transmitted to her daughter, Hilda, whose poems written, or told, between the ages of five and eight, and published in a volume in 1920, prove her to be a child of remarkable poetic talent.

Corbin, Alice (Mrs. Wm. Penhallow Henderson). [1881-1949] (1) Born in St. Louis, of Southern parentage. Educated at the University of Chicago. Since its founding in 1912, Mrs. Henderson has been a.s.sociate editor, with Harriet Monroe, of 'Poetry, A Magazine of Verse', and also co-editor, with Miss Monroe, of "The New Poetry", an anthology of modern English and American poets.

She is the author of "Adam's Dream and Two Other Miracle Plays for Children"

(in verse), and of a collection of poems called "The Spinning Woman of the Sky".

c.o.x, Eleanor Rogers. [?-1936(possibly 1931)] (2) Born at Enniskillen, Ireland. Came with family to the United States in childhood; citizen; educated at St. Gabriel's High School and private tuition. Although Miss c.o.x has lived in America since childhood, her poetic inspiration has come chiefly from the myths and legends of Ireland, her mother country, to which she returns at intervals.

Her two volumes of verse, "A Hosting of Heroes", 1911, and "Singing Fires of Erin", 1916, are instinct with the Celtic spirit.

Miss c.o.x also lectures upon Irish legendry.

c.r.a.psey, Adelaide. [1878-1914] (3) Born in Brooklyn, Sept. 9, 1878. Her young girlhood was spent in Rochester, N.Y., where her father, Algernon S. c.r.a.psey, was rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. After preparatory work in Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wis., she entered Va.s.sar College, graduating, as a Phi Beta Kappa, in 1901. After two years of teaching at Kemper Hall, Miss c.r.a.psey went to Italy and became a student at the School of Archaeology in Rome, at the same time giving lectures in Italian history. Upon returning to America she taught history and literature for two years in a private school at Stamford, Conn., but gave up her work because of ill health and spent the following two years in Italy and England, working upon her "Study of English Metrics".

Recovering sufficiently to do so, she returned to this country in 1911 and took a position as Instructor of Poetics at Smith College, but in 1913 was obliged to resign because of renewed illness and died on the 8th of October, 1914. After her death, the Manas Press of Rochester brought out a small volume of her poetry, and her "Study of English Metrics" was published in 1918 by Alfred Knopf.

Adelaide c.r.a.psey had a rarely beautiful and original poetic gift, and her early death is greatly to be regretted.

Cromwell, Gladys. [1885-1919] (1) Born in Brooklyn, but lived the greater part of her life in New York City.

She was educated at private schools in New York, and had a period of study in Paris, supplemented by extensive foreign travel. At the outbreak of the World War, Miss Cromwell and her twin sister volunteered for service in the Red Cross and were actively engaged both in canteen work and in hospital service. The strain proved too great and induced a mental depression, which, acting upon the highly sensitive nature of the sisters, caused them to feel that they had no longer a place in a world which held no refuge for beauty and quiet thought, and on their way home from France, in January of 1919, they committed suicide by jumping from the deck of the steamer Loraine. Three months later they were buried in France with military honors and the French Government awarded them the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de Reconnaissance francaise.

The poetry of Gladys Cromwell is deeply thoughtful and almost sculptural in its chiseled beauty. It shows the reaction of a finely tempered spirit to a world at variance with it. Had Miss Cromwell lived she would almost certainly have added some distinguished work to our poetry, since the lyrics contained in the volume of her verse issued after her death are of so fine a quality.

Dargan, Olive Tilford. [1869-1968] (1) Born in Grayson County, Ky., and educated at the University of Nashville and at Radcliffe College. She became a teacher and was connected with various schools in Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas until her marriage.

Mrs. Dargan's first work was in poetic drama in which she revealed gifts of a high order. Her dramatic volumes are: "Semiramis, and Other Plays", 1904; "Lords and Lovers", 1906; and "The Mortal G.o.ds", 1912. As a lyric poet Mrs. Dargan has done some beautiful work, most of which may be found in her collection "Path Flower", 1914, and she has also published a sequence of fine sonnets under the t.i.tle of "The Cycle's Rim", 1916.

Davies, Mary Carolyn (Mrs. Leland Davis). [?] (3) Miss Davies was born and educated in California and came to New York from her home in that state, where she soon began to attract attention by the fresh and original quality of her verse, which appeared frequently in the magazines. In 1918 she married Leland Davis. In the same year she published "The Drums in Our Street", a book of war verse, and in 1919 brought out a much finer and more characteristic collection of her poems under the t.i.tle, "Youth Riding". Miss Davies has also written several one-act plays, one of which, "The Slave with Two Faces", has had successful presentation.

Davis, Fannie Stearns (Mrs. Augustus McKinstrey Gifford). [1884-?] (2) Born at Cleveland, Ohio, March 6, 1884. Educated at Smith College, from which she graduated in 1904. She is the author of two volumes of poetry: "Myself and I", 1913; and "Crack o' Dawn", 1915, both marked by unusually sensitive feeling and delicate artistry.

De Ca.s.seras, Benjamin. [1873-1945] (1) Born in Philadelphia in 1873, of old Spanish and American stock and educated in the public schools of Philadelphia.

He entered the office of the 'Philadelphia Press' in 1889 and served for ten years on the paper in every capacity from that of proof-reader to theatrical critic and editorial writer.

In 1899 he came to New York and entered the newspaper field, working successively on the 'Sun', the 'Herald', and the 'Times'.

For a short time he was engaged in journalistic work in Mexico, having been co-founder, in 1906, of 'El Diario' in the City of Mexico.

Since that time he has been a voluminous contributor to magazines and has published books in many fields, since he is poet, essayist, critic, and satirist. As a poet his best-known work is in "The Shadow-Eater", 1915.

Among his other volumes are "The Chameleon", "Forty Immortals", "Edelweiss and Mandragora", and "Counsels of Imperfection", translated into French by Remy de Gourmont.

Driscoll, Louise. [1875-1957] (1) Born in Poughkeepsie, educated by private teachers and in the public schools of Catskill, N.Y. Miss Driscoll first attracted attention by a poem called "Metal Checks" which received a prize of $100 offered by 'Poetry: A Magazine of Verse', for the best poem on the European war.

Since then Miss Driscoll has been a constant contributor to the best magazines, but has not yet published a collection of her verse.

Ficke, Arthur Davison. [1883-1945] (2) Born Davenport, Iowa, Nov. 10, 1883. Educated at Harvard University where he graduated in 1904. Later he studied at the College of Law of the Iowa State University and was admitted to the bar in 1908.

In 1907 he married Evelyn Bethune Blunt, of Springfield, Ma.s.s.