Next year Dead Poets Remembrance Day falls on the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend. We'll be planning soon for which night we'll meet again at Mayo Street Arts....some of the potential poetesses we'll be honoring? Elizabeth Coatsworth, Barbara Holland, and Elizabeth Spofford are candidates.
Denise Levertov : Maine Poet
Denise Levertov (1923-1997) was of the most beloved poets of the late 20th Century, usually associated with New York, Seattle or London. But few people know that she had a deep connection to Maine, spening many summers in Temple, Maine. Come join us as poet and critic, Megan Grumbling, share's Levertov's life and poetry as it relates to Maine.
Elizabeth Akers Allen
Poet and teacher, Christina Mock, will give a special presentation on the life and poetry of Elizabeth Akers Allen.
Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832 - 1911)
"Elizabeth Akers Allen: POET" Phote by Walter Skold (c)
"Rock Me To Sleep" The poem/song she is most remembered for.
(From MWWC blog; Catherin Fisher, author)
No matter how elegant their rejections, though, in the end their motives are clearly all business. And just as fickle as are the whims of the clothing and art worlds, publishing fashions also come and go with the stroke of a pen. Authors can experience sudden and dramatic shifts in their desirability in the eyes of publishers. Elizabeth Akers Allen, when rumors of her supposed ill health got around in the mid-1800s, noted that publishers became more interested in her work when they believed she would soon be dead.
It’s perhaps no wonder that many authors today are choosing to publish their work themselves.
Barbara Adams Holland
.
.
.
.
What I bring
out of this witch-crazed moment I shall turn
to uses of my own,
rebuild, rewire, reactivate with sound
out of this witch-crazed moment I shall turn
to uses of my own,
rebuild, rewire, reactivate with sound
.
.
.
.
Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar, the famous French-American author who lived many years in Petite Pleisance, on Mt. Desert Island, was the first women to be admitted into the prestigious French Academy. She is known the world over for her historical and non-fiction books, but few know that she perhaps loved poetry best of all.
Cora Buzzelle Millay
Cora Millay wrote a book of poems calledd "Little Otis." She is buried near her daughter, in Steepletop, NY, the beloved home of Edna Millay and her husband.
Elizabeth Oakes Smith
Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806 - 1893)
The grave of Elizabeth Oakes Smith was last reported in great disrepair. In fact, the story goes that a firefighter in Long Island lovinging tends to her split tombtone, in a forgotten field.
811 in Life & Death
Photo taken at the grave of Elizabeth Akers Allen. She was an 811 in life and is an 811 in death.
Photo Walter Skold (C)
Memorial for Elizabeth Akers Allen
A Maine poet, Allen was cremated and buried in New York. But there is a beautiful memorial to her in Danielson, CT. On it we see the Lyre, the great ancient symbol for all things lyrical, poetic, and inspirational.
Grave of Rachel Field Pederson
Rachel Field died in Los Angeles and is buried in Stockbridge, MA, where her parents are buried.
(From find-a-grave bio) "Rachel was a poet, playwriter, novelist and author of children's books. She grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and later graduated from Radcliffe College in 1918. She won the Drama League of American's prize for a patriotic play entitled "Rise Up, Jennie Smith" in 1918. She lived in New York during her early career, but moved to Los Angeles County, California after her marriage in 1935 to Arthur S. Pederson. Her children's book, "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years," was published in 1929. The book's publication was a first in the industry, as it was published by Macmillan's newly created juvenile department. In addition, this book won the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for Children's Literature. Her books for adults included "God's Pocket" and "Time Out of Mind". The latter won the National Book Award for the most distinguished novel of the year. In 1938 she wrote "All This, and Heaven Too." This book sold over 350,000 copies and was also turned into a successful film. She never took the surname of her husband, but used her maiden name in all her writings."
Elizabeth Coatsworth. Ice & Snow
Photo by Walter Skold (C)
Taken at the grave of Elizabeth Coatsworth and Henry Beston
Sarah Orne Jewett's Family Gravesite
Here are some excellent pictures and interesting historical information about the Jewett Family grave plot in South Berwick, ME.
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Elizabeth Coatsworth (1893 - 1986)
Books of poems include her first book, Fox Footprints (1923), Atlas and Beyond (1924), Compass Rose (1929), Country Poems (1942), and Summer Green (1948).
At the Grave of Elizabeth Coatsworth (c) Walter Skold
Coatsworth, born in Buffalo, NY, and a graduate of Vassar (BA 1915) and Columbia (MA 1916), was the wife of Henry Beston (married 1929) and lived with him in Hingham, Mass., and then on a farm in Nobleboro for decades; she's buried in the cemetery on Chimney Farm. Their daughter Kate Barnes was Maine's first poet laureate. Coatsworth travelled widely, spending time in England, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Morocco, Japan, China, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Yucatan. She incorporates her travel memories into her writing.
