Allen Norton (1878?-1945?) was an American poet and

literary editor A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews.

of the 1910s and 20s. His father, E.L. Norton, was a stock broker. He went to Harvard, where he specialized in literature and began writing poetry. He and his wife

Louise Norton Louise Norton (June 19, 1888 – September 6, 1941) was a Kansas City-born American artist who was a founding member of the arts colony in Tucson, Arizona, in the early part of the twentieth century. She was a pioneering female painter who help ...

edited the

little magazine In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses", according to a 1942 study by Frederick J. Hoffman ...

''Rogue'', published from March 1915 to December 1916. The periodical, partly financed by

Walter Conrad Arensberg Walter Conrad Arensberg (April 4, 1878 – January 29, 1954) was an American art collector, critic and poet. His father was part owner and president of a crucible steel company. He majored in English and philosophy at Harvard University. With his ...

, served as an early showcase for the work of Arensberg himself,

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance comp ...

Mina Loy Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...

, and

Alfred Kreymborg Alfred Francis Kreymborg (December 10, 1883 – August 14, 1966) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, literary editor and anthologist. Early life and associations He was born in New York City to Hermann and Louisa Kreymborg (née Nasher), ...

. Norton's 1914 volume of verse, ''Saloon Sonnets With Sunday Flutings'', was published by Donald Evan's Claire Marie Press. Heavily influenced by fin-de-siècle aestheticism,

Alice Corbin Henderson Alice Corbin Henderson (April 16, 1881 – July 18, 1949) was an American poet, author and poetry editor. Early life and education Alice Corbin was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother died in 1884 and she was briefly sent to live with her f ...

remarked that his work, along with the poetry of Evans himself, represented something of a revival of that style. Poems in the volume included ''Impressions of Oscar Wilde'', ''Modern Love'' and ''Mrs. Eddy: a Mask''. Allen Norton and his wife Louise had a son, Michael, born in 1912, but the couple became estranged by 1917 and divorced shortly thereafter. In the 1920s, Norton married a woman named Adele Baker, an actress, but that marriage, too, ended in divorce. In 1944 he met Marion Phillip, a merchandising consultant, and they moved to the Baker family farm in Monmounth County, Pennsylvania. From that location he suddenly and inexplicably disappeared on January 3, 1945, but his bones were found in 1951 and forensically matched to his identity.Report from J. Victor Carton, County Prosecutor, County of Manmouth, to Byron Clark, dated May 11, 1951, copy in the Papers of Walter Arensberg, Huntington Library, San Marino, California

External links

''Virginette'', a poem by Allen Norton, in 1918's ''Greenwich Village Anthology of Verse''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Allen Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown American literary editors American magazine editors 20th-century American poets Year of birth uncertain