Hilda Conkling (1910–1986) was an American
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
. She was the daughter of
Grace Hazard Conkling, a poet in her own right and Assistant Professor of English at
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
,
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florenc ...
. Hilda was born in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
state. Her father died when she was four years old, and she had one sister, Elsa, two years her senior.
Hilda is notable for having composed most of her poetry as a young
child
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
, between the ages of four and fourteen years old. She never wrote them down herself; instead, they came out in conversation with her mother, who would write down Hilda's words either in the moment, or from memory later. If the latter, she would read the lines back to Hilda, who would then correct any deviation from her original words. As Hilda grew up, her mother stopped recording the poems, and Hilda is not known to have written any herself as an adult.
Poetry
Most of Hilda's poetry is concerned with
nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...
; sometimes simply descriptive, sometimes mixed with elements of
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
. Other common themes are love for her mother, stories and daydreams, and pictures or books that pleased her. Often these themes intertwine, and she often makes use of
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
in her descriptions of plants and animals.
[Conkling, Hilda. '' Poems by a Little Girl''. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920.]
Three collections of Hilda's poetry were published during her life: ''
Poems by a Little Girl'' (1920, preface by
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
Life
Amy Lowell was born on Febr ...
), ''
Shoes of the Wind'' (1922), and ''Silverhorn'' (1924). Her poems were also included in the anthologies ''Silver Pennies'' (1925), and ''Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems'' (1988). Prior to her first book, she was published in a number of magazines, including ''
Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'', ''
The Delineator'', ''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...
'', ''
The Lyric'', ''
St. Nicholas Magazine'', and ''Contemporary Verse''.
Modern influence
Three of Hilda Conkling's poems—"Evening", "Moonsong", and "Water"—were used as the text for a choral piece calle
''Three Nightsongs''by American
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Def ...
Joshua Shank.
"Water", "About My Dreams", "Snow Capped Mountain", and "The White Cloud" have been set to music by American composer J. D. Frizzell.
See also
*
Poetry of the United States
American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies (althou ...
References
External links
*
*
*
Hilda Conkling at OldPoetry.comMore information and over a hundred poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conkling, Hilda
1910 births
1986 deaths
Writers from Massachusetts
American women poets
American child writers
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers