Anna Hempstead Branch (March 18, 1875 – September 8, 1937) was an American poet. She was regarded as a major poet during her life, labeled by

William Thomas Stead William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst e ...

"the Browning of American poetry".

Early life

Branch was born at Hempsted House in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

in 1875, the younger child of John Locke Branch, a lawyer, and Mary Lydia Bolles Branch (1840–1922), a children's author and poet who was part of Hempstead family, who had lived in the area since 1640 and owned some of the oldest houses in southeast Connecticut.

Education

Branch spent most of her school years in New York and Brooklyn where she studied at Smith College, as well as Froebel and Adelphi Academies, which were near her father's law practice.Brookhart, Mary Hughes, "Branch, Anna Hempstead"; http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01901.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. After graduating from

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, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in 1897, she studied

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a dramaturg in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production u ...

at the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

, earning her degree in 1900. A year after graduating from Smith, her poem "The Road 'Twixt Heaven and Hell" was selected as the year's best verse by a college graduate by ''

Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associat ...

''. Starting with that recognition, Branch regularly placed her poetry in a variety of national magazines, and Houghton Mifflin published her first collection of poetry in 1901 Branch's reputation was made with her first two collections ''The Shoes That Danced'' (1905) and ''Rose of the Wind'' (1910). Both works show a

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

influence on her poetry, especially in the use of non-traditional characters and allusions. "The Wedding Feast," a poem from the first collection, reworks

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

's "

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere''), written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of '' Lyrical Ballads'', is a poem that recounts th ...

." The second collection features odd settings and characters. And her most famous single poem "

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

"—a

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metre (poetry), metrical but rhyme, unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th cen ...

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

staged at the Empire Theatre in 1908—is about a Biblical king who inspired several pre-Raphaelite works. ''Sonnets from a Lock Box'' (1929) is regarded as her best work. It is a collection of thirty-eight sonnets using the first person, noted for its directness and mystical symbolism. Her final collection of poetry, ''Last Poems'' (1944), was published posthumously by

Ridgely Torrence Frederic Ridgely Torrence (November 27, 1874 – December 25, 1950) was an American poet and editor. He received the Shelley Memorial Award in 1942 and the Academy of American Poets' Fellowship in 1947. Early life and education Born on November ...

. Branch was also the author of ''A Christmas Miracle and God Bless this House'' (1925) and ''Bubble Blower's House'' (1926). Branch was also known for her philanthropy, mostly centered around

Christodora House Christodora House is a historic building located at 143 Avenue B in the East Village/ Alphabet City neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect Henry C. Pelton (architect of Riverside Church) in the American Perpen ...

, a

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. There she created the Poet's Guild, whose members, including

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robins ...

William Rose Benét William Rose Benét (February 2, 1886 – May 4, 1950) was an American poet, writer, and editor. He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Benét. Early life and education He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Col. James Walker Benét ...

Percy MacKaye Percy MacKaye (1875–1956) was an American dramatist and poet. Biography MacKaye was born in New York City into a theatrical family. His father, Steele MacKaye, was a popular actor, playwright, and producer, while his mother, Mary, wrote a dr ...

, and Margaret Widdemer, taught classes at the house. Branch was also vice president of the

Poetry Society of America Poetry (from the Greek word '' poiesis'', "making") is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal or surface-level meanings. Any partic ...

Later life

In 1918 she served as the vice president of the National League for Women's Service and chaired the education and festival committees in the War Camp Community Service. She founded and directed the Poets' Guild of Christodora House which thrived due to her assiduous attention and ability to enlist the participation of an impressive array of fellow poets. Among this involved were Edwin Markham, Josephine Preston Peabody, Percy MacKaye, William Rose Benét, Margaret Widdemer, Ridgely Torrence, Sara Teasdale, Robert Frost, and Edwin Arlington Robinson. Branch was very active in trying to bring poetry into people's lives during the 1910s and 1920s. The Guild also created the "Unbound Anthology". Poems were nicely printed and sold for five cents each, people were able to get poetry cheaply and the profits would go back into the settlement house work. in 1934 Branch received an honorary degree from Smith College. Hempstead often was invited to various colleges and high schools in the east. She was invited to speak at Wellesley College, which is a women's college, on November 9, 1926. Branch never married. She died of cancer at the age of 62.

References

External links

* * *
Anna Hempstead Branch
papers at the

Mortimer Rare Book Collection The Mortimer Rare Book Collection (MRBC) is the rare books collection of Smith College. Along with the Sophia Smith Collection and College Archives (Smith College), Smith College Archives, it makes up Smith College Special Collections. The colle ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Anna Hempstead 1875 births 1937 deaths Poets from Connecticut Writers from New London, Connecticut American women poets Smith College alumni American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni