The Second Book of Modern Verse Part 44

Not only did his poems foreshadow his own death, but they showed the willingness, almost eagerness, with which he offered himself.

Although America was not yet in the war, a tardiness which had been a great grief to Alan Seeger, there is a poetic coincidence in the fact that he met his death on July 4, 1916, while the Legion was carrying out an attack on the little village of Belloy-en-Santerre. After his death two volumes, containing his poems, letters, and diary, were issued, 1917, with an Introduction by William Archer.

Shanafelt, Clara. [?] (1) Miss Shanafelt has, as yet, published no collection of poetry, but has appeared in the magazines, particularly 'Poetry', of Chicago, from whose pages we took the lyric included in this volume.

Shepard, Odell. [1884-1967] (1) Born in Sterling, Ill., July 22, 1884. Educated at Harvard University.

Is now instructor in the English department of Yale University.

He is the author of "A Lonely Flute", 1917.

Smith, May Riley. [1842-1927] (1) Born in Rochester, N.Y., May 7, 1842. Educated at Tracey Female Inst.i.tute, Rochester, and at Brockport, N.Y., Collegiate Inst.i.tute.

Married Albert Smith, of Springfield, Ill., in 1869.

Author of "The Gift of Gentians", 1882; "The Inn of Rest", 1888; "Sometime and Other Poems", 1892. While Mrs. Smith has in recent years done work much more modern in character and finer as poetry, she is most widely known for her poem, "Sometime", written in her earlier life.

Speyer, Leonora. [1872-1956] (2) Born in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., in 1872. Studied music in Brussels, Paris, and Leipzig, and played the violin professionally under Nikisch, Seidl, and others. Married Sir Edgar Speyer, of London, and lived in that city until 1915, when they came to America and took up their residence in New York.

Lady Speyer, who had never written poetry until her return to her native country, has since that time made for herself a place among the newer group and is doing excellent work both in the free forms and lyric.

[Leonora Speyer won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1927 for "Fiddlers Farewell". -- A. L., 1998.]

Sterling, George. [1869-1926] (3) Born at Sag Harbor, N.Y., Dec. 1, 1869. Educated at private schools and at St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Md. Mr. Sterling is a poet to whom the sublimer aspects of nature and thought appeal and he has a style admirably suited to their portrayal.

He is the author of "The Testimony of the Suns", 1903; "A Wine of Wizardry", 1908; "The House of Orchids", 1911; "Beyond the Breakers", 1914; "Exposition Ode", 1915; and "Lilith, A Dramatic Poem", 1919.

Stork, Charles Wharton. [1881-1971] (2) Born in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 12, 1881. Took the degree of A.B.

at Haverford College, 1902; of A.M. at Harvard, 1903, and of Ph.D.

at the University of Pennsylvania, 1905. He then went abroad to do research work in the universities of England and Germany, where he spent several years. In 1908 he married Elisabeth, daughter of Franz von Pausinger, artist, of Salzburg, Austria, and, returning to America, took up his work at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained as instructor and a.s.sociate professor until 1916, when he resigned to engage in literary work. Mr. Stork's first book of verse to become known was "Sea and Bay", 1916. Since then he has done a great deal of translating from the Swedish and German, having made admirable renderings of Gustaf Froding, 1916, as well as many other Swedish poets, whose work he published in an "Anthology of Swedish Lyrics", 1917. He has since made a translation of "Selected Poems of Verner Von Heidenstam", the n.o.bel Prize winner of 1916. In addition to his work in Swedish poetry, he has made an excellent rendering of the lyrics of Hofmansthal, the Austrian poet. Mr. Stork is the editor and owner of 'Contemporary Verse', devoted to the poetry of the present group in America.

A second collection of his own verse will soon appear.

Teasdale, Sara. [1884-1933] (4) Born in St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 10, 1884. Educated at private schools.

Married Ernst B. Filsinger, 1915. She is the author of "Sonnets to Duse", 1907; "Helen of Troy and Other Poems", 1911; "Rivers to the Sea", 1915; "Love Songs", 1917, which was awarded the Columbia University Prize of $500 for the best book of poems of the current year. Miss Teasdale was also the editor of "The Answering Voice; A Hundred Love Lyrics by Women", 1917.

She herself wrote some of the finest love songs of our period and was one of the purest and most spontaneous lyric poets of her generation.

[Sara Teasdale won the first Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1918 for "Love Songs". (Same as the Columbia University Prize listed above.) -- A. L., 1998.]

Tietjens, Eunice. [1884-1944] (1) Born in Chicago, Ill., July 29, 1884. Educated in Europe, chiefly at Geneva, Dresden, and Paris. Married Paul Tietjens, musician, in 1904. Was divorced in 1914, and in 1920 married Cloyd Head, of Chicago.

Was for several years a.s.sociate editor of 'Poetry'. Mrs. Tietjens has traveled extensively, especially in the interior of China. She also spent sixteen months in France as a war correspondent for the Chicago Daily News.

Mrs. Tietjens is the author of "Profiles from China", 1917, and "Body and Raiment", 1919.

Torrence, Ridgely. [1875-1950] (2) Born at Xenia, Ohio, Nov. 27, 1875. Educated at Miami University, Ohio, and at Princeton. Served as a.s.sistant librarian at the Astor and Lenox Libraries in New York City from 1897 to 1903.

His volumes of poetry and poetic drama include: "The House of a Hundred Lights", 1900; "El Dorado, A Tragedy", 1903; "Abelard and Heloise: A Drama", 1907. Since Mr. Torrence published his last collection, he has done some of his finest work in lyric and narrative poetry, work that has appeared in the magazines and which will probably be collected soon into book form.

He is a poet of vision, one of the truest voices of our day, though his work is spa.r.s.e in output.

Towne, Charles Hanson. [1877-1949] (3) Born at Louisville, Ky., Feb. 2, 1877. Educated at New York City College.

Mr. Towne has been an active journalist, having been connected with several metropolitan magazines and successively editor of 'The Smart Set', 'The Delineator', 'The Designer', and 'McClure's Magazine'.

Despite his journalistic work he has found time to write several volumes of poetry largely reflective of the life of to-day and particularly of Manhattan. The best-known are: "The Quiet Singer, and Other Poems", 1908; "Manhattan", 1909; "Youth, and Other Poems", 1910; "Beyond the Stars, and Other Poems", 1912; "To-Day and To-Morrow", 1916; and "A World of Windows", 1919.

Untermeyer, Jean Starr. [1886-1970] (1) Born at Zanesville, Ohio, in 1886. Educated in private schools of New York City and in special courses at Columbia University.

Married Louis Untermeyer, the poet, 1907. Mrs. Untermeyer did not begin writing until the free verse movement was at its height, but she has done some excellent work and made a place for herself in the movement. Her volume of verse, "Growing Pains", was published in 1918.

Untermeyer, Louis. [1885-1977] (3) Born in New York City, Oct. 1, 1885. Educated in the public schools of that city. Mr. Untermeyer, in addition to writing poetry, has done much work in book reviewing, particularly for the 'Chicago Evening Post', and is the author of a critical book, "The New Era in American Poetry", 1919, which discusses in a stimulating manner the work of a group of poets of the day. His own volumes of poems are: "First Love", 1911; "Challenge", 1914; "And Other Poets: A Book of Parodies", 1916; "These Times", 1917; "Including Horace", another volume of parodies, 1919.

Mr. Untermeyer has made an excellent translation of the "Poems of Heinrich Heine", 1917, and has edited a school anthology of "Modern American Poetry", 1919.

Walsh, Thomas. [1875-1928] (2) Born in Brooklyn, Oct. 14, 1875. Educated at Georgetown University, where he took the degree of Ph.D. in 1892. Spent the years from 1892 to 1895, at Columbia University. In 1917 he received the honorary degree of Litt.D.

from Georgetown University and of LL.D. from the University of Notre Dame.

He is the author of "The Prison s.h.i.+ps", 1909; "The Pilgrim Kings", 1915; "Gardens Overseas", 1917; and is the translator of a collection of the poems of the Nicaraguan poet, Ruben Dario. Mr. Walsh is much interested in Spanish literature and art and much of his work turns upon these themes.

Wattles, Willard. [1888-1950] (3) Born in Bayneville, Kan., June 8, 1888. Educated at the University of Kansas, where he took the degree of A.B. in 1909 (Phi Beta Kappa) and of A.M. in 1911.

Mr. Wattles took up the profession of teaching and was instructor in English at the High School, Leavenworth, Kan., 1910-11, leaving this position to go East and become one of the staff of the Ma.s.sachusetts Agricultural College, where he remained until 1914, when he returned to his alma mater, the University of Kansas. He is still a.s.sistant in the English department of that college. He has published as yet but one collection, "Lanterns in Gethsemane", 1917, a volume of poems pertaining to the life of Christ, but not written in the usual vein of religious poetry.

He is also the compiler of "Sunflowers", a book of Kansas poems, 1916.

Wheelock, John Hall. [1886-1978] (4) Born at Far Rockaway, N.Y., in 1886. He took the degree of A.B.

from Harvard University in 1908 and spent the next two years in Germany, studying during 1909 at Gottingen and during 1910 at the University of Berlin. Since his return to America he has been connected with the publis.h.i.+ng house of Charles Scribner's Sons.

His first volume, "The Human Fantasy", 1911, attracted attention by the faithfulness with which it depicted the motley life of New York.

His second was "The Beloved Adventure", 1912; followed by "Love and Liberation", 1913, and "Dust and Light", 1919.

The last volume, from which the selections in this anthology are taken, contains some of Mr. Wheelock's finest lyrical work, work full of the pa.s.sion for beauty.

Widdemer, Margaret. [1884-1978] (4) Born at Doylestown, Pa. Educated by private teachers and at the Drexel Inst.i.tute Library School of Philadelphia, where she graduated in 1909. Attention was first drawn to her work by a child-labor poem, "The Factories", which was widely quoted, the social movement in poetry being then at its height. Miss Widdemer is both poet and novelist, having published several books in each field. In poetry her work includes: "The Factories with Other Lyrics", 1915; and "The Old Road to Paradise", 1918.

This volume shared with that of Carl Sandburg the Columbia University Prize of $500 for the best book of poems published in 1918.

In the same year Miss Widdemer was married to Robert Haven Schauffler, author of "Sc.u.m o' the Earth". She is a poet of much delicacy, and several of her poems, notably "The Dark Cavalier" in this volume, are among the best lyric work of the period.

[Margaret Widdemer won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1919 for "Old Road to Paradise". (Same as the Columbia University Prize listed above.) -- A. L., 1998.]

Wilkinson, Florence (Mrs. Wilfrid Muir Evans). [1878-?] (1) Born at Tarrytown, N.Y. Miss Wilkinson studied at Chicago University and other American colleges and afterwards at the Sorbonne and the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris.

She is the author of several novels, of which the best known are: "The Lady of the Flag Flowers", "The Strength of the Hills", and "The Silent Door"; and also of one or two volumes of plays, but her best work is found in her poetry of which she has written two volumes: "The Far Country", 1906, and "The Ride Home", 1913.

Wilkinson, Marguerite Ogden Bigelow. [1883-1928] (2) Born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Nov. 15, 1883. Educated at Northwestern University. Married James Wilkinson, 1909.

Author of "In Vivid Gardens", 1911; "By a Western Wayside", 1912; "New Voices", a critical study of present-day poetry, with a supplementary anthology, 1919; and "Bluestone", a collection of her own poems, 1920. The t.i.tle poem of this volume was awarded a prize of $150 by the Poetry Society of America for the best poem read at its meetings during 1919. Mrs. Wilkinson did a great deal of journalistic work, having conducted literary departments on various journals.

Wood, Clement. [1888-1950] (3) Born at Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sept. 1, 1888, but reared in Birmingham, Ala., where he attended Taylor's Academy and Birmingham High School.

Received his degree of A.B. from the University of Alabama in 1909, and of LL.B. from Yale University in 1911. He returned to his home city of Birmingham and practiced law for several years, becoming a.s.sistant city attorney of Birmingham in 1912, and police magistrate of the Central District of Birmingham, 1912-13.

The following year he came to New York for advanced work in sociology and literature and became a contributor of poems, essays, and short stories to various magazines. In 1917 he was awarded the first prize of $250 by the Newark Committee of One Hundred, as part of their Anniversary Celebration, for his poem, "The Smithy of G.o.d", and in 1919 he was also awarded one of the three Lyric Society Prizes, of $500 each, for his poem, "Jehovah". In 1914 Mr. Wood married Mildred M. c.u.mmer, of Buffalo, N.Y., who is also a writer.

In poetry he is the author of the following books: "Glad of Earth", 1917; "The Earth Turns South", 1919; and "Jehovah", 1920. He has also written a novel called "Mountain", published in 1920.

---- Rittenhouse, Jessie Belle. [1869-1948]

Jessie Rittenhouse is best known as an editor and for her compilations, but she was also a poet -- though she did not include her own work in her compilations. Her compilations and criticisms include: "The younger American poets", 1904; "The Little Book of Modern Verse", 1913; "The Little Book of American Poets, 1787-1900", 1915; "The Second Book of Modern Verse", 1919; "The Little Book of Modern British Verse: One Hundred Poets since Henley", 1924; "The Third Book of Modern Verse", 1927.

Her own works include: "The Door of Dreams", 1918; "The Lifted Cup", 1921; "The Secret Bird", 1930; "My House of Life; an Autobiography", 1934; and "The Moving Tide; New and Selected Lyrics", 1939.

Her compilations went through numerous printings, and are still a good guide to the poetry of the era.

Notes to the text:

Though most of the publishers only required acknowledgements in the section devoted to such, one apparently insisted that they also appear in the text.

These intrusions have been removed from the text, but are noted here:

Edwin Arlington Robinson.

'Flammonde' & 'Old King Cole', reprinted from "The Man against the Sky", 1916.

Vachel Lindsay.

'The Chinese Nightingale' & 'The Flower of Mending', reprinted from "The Chinese Nightingale, and Other Poems", 1917.

'General William Booth Enters into Heaven', reprinted from "General William Booth Enters into Heaven, and Other Poems", 1913.

'Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight', reprinted from "The Congo, and Other Poems", 1914.