Genevieve Taggard

Genevieve Taggard(November 28, 1894 – November 8, 1948) was an Americanpoet.

Biography

Genevieve Taggard was born inWaitsburg, Washington,to James Taggard and Alta Arnold, both of whom were school teachers. Her parents were both active members of theDisciples of Christ,and at age two her parents moved toHonolulu, Hawaii,where they became missionaries and founded a school in which they also taught.

Genevieve Taggard began writing poetry at the early age of 13. In 1914 the family left Hawaii, and Taggard enrolled at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.Here she became an active member of the socialist political and literary community. She graduated in 1919 upon which she moved toNew York Cityin 1920.

Once in New York she started working for the publisherB. W. Huebschand in 1921 she co-founded the journalThe Measurealong with fellow writer and friendMaxwell Anderson.In the same year she married poet and novelistRobert Wolfwith whom she had her only child Marcia Wolf (later Liles). Upon living in New York for most of the 1920s she assumed a teaching position atMount Holyoke College,where she taught from 1929 to 1930.

In 1931, she was aGuggenheim Fellow. In 1932, she accepted a professorship atBennington College.In 1934 Taggard and Wolf divorced, and the following year she marriedKenneth Durant.In 1934, she moved on to teach atSarah Lawrence College,where she remained until 1947, a year before her death.

Her poems were published inThe Nation,The Kenyon Review,The New Yorker,The New Republic.

During the 1930s, sparked in part by theGreat Depression,but also largely by her philanthropic upbringing and her commitment to socialism, her poetry began to reflect her political and social views much more prominently. During this time aGuggenheim Fellowshipallowed her to spend a year inMajorca,SpainandAntibes,France.The experience of Spain in its time shortly before the Spanish Civil War gave further rise and inspiration to her cause of raising social and political awareness of civil rights issues.

Her papers are held atDartmouth Collegeand theNew York Public Library.

Selected works

Poetry

• For Eager Lovers.New York: Thomas Seltzer. 1922.
• Hawaiian Hilltop,Wyckoff & Gelber, 1923
• May Days: An Anthology of Verse from Masses-Liberator,Boni & Liveright, 1925
• Words for the Chisel,A.A. Knopf, 1926
• Travelling Standing Still,A.A. Knopf, 1928
• Not Mine to Finish: Poems 1928–1934,Harper & brothers, 1934
• Calling Western Union,Harper & brothers, 1936
• Collected Poems: 1918–1938,Harper & brothers, 1938
• Long View,Harper & brothers, 1942
• A Part of Vermont,The River Press, 1945
• Slow MusicHarper & brothers, 1946
• Origin: Hawaii: poems,D. Angus, 1947

Biography

• The Life and Mind of Emily Dickinson,A.A. Knopf, 1930

References

Sources

• Elaine Showalter (2009).A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx.Random House.ISBN978-1-4000-4123-7.
• "Genevieve Taggard (1894–1948)",Modern American Poetry
• "Collected Poems, 1918–1938",Umbrella,Christina Pacosz, Issue 6, Spring 2008
• Genevieve TaggardHawaiian Hilltopa review,Catherine Daly

External links

• Media related toGenevieve Taggardat Wikimedia Commons
• Works by or aboutGenevieve TaggardatWikisource
• Genevieve Taggard Papers, 1881-2001Manuscripts and Archives, New York Public Library.
• "Interior",Proletarian Literature in the United States,1935.
• The Papers of Genevieve Taggardat Dartmouth College Library
• Works by Genevieve TaggardatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)