Barbara Howes (May 1, 1914

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

– February 24, 1996

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous t ...

) 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 wr ...

Life

She was adopted and raised in Chestnut Hill, attending Beaver Country Day School. She graduated from

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

in 1937. She edited the literary magazine ''Chimera'' from 1943 to 1947 and lived in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. In 1947 she married the poet

William Jay Smith William Jay Smith (April 22, 1918 – August 18, 2015) was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. Life William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Louis ...

and had two sons, David and Gregory. After divorcing in "the mid-1960s", she lived in

Pownal, Vermont Pownal is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,258. The town of Pownal includes the villages of Pownal, North Pownal, and Pownal Center. History During the Woodland period, the ...

. In 1971, she signed a letter protesting proposed cuts to the School of the Arts,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. Her work was published in, ''Atlantic'', ''Chicago Review'', ''New Directions'', ''New Republic'', ''New Yorker'', ''New York Times Book Review'', ''Saturday Review'', ''Southern Review'', ''University of Kansas Review'', ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', and ''Yale Review''.

Awards

Golden Rose Award The Golden Rose Award, one of America’s oldest literary prizes, was inaugurated in 1919. The rose was modeled after the Gold Rose which is now in the Cluny Museum Cluny () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern French Departments of F ...

* nominated for the 1995 National Book Award for ''The Collected Poems of Barbara Howes, 1945-1990''

Works

* * * * * *

Poetry

* * * * * * *Moving, Elysian Press (New York, NY), 1983. *

Fiction

* *

Editor

* * * ''The Road Commissioner and Other Stories'', illustrated by Gregory Smith, Stinehour Press, 1983.

Anthologies

* ''New Poems by American Poets'', Ballantine (New York, NY), 1957 * ''Modern Verse in English'', Macmillan, 1958 * ''Modern American Poetry'', Harcourt (New York, NY), 1962 * ''Poet's Choice'', Dial (New York, NY), 1962 * ''Modern Poets'', McGraw (New York City), 1963 * ''Of Poetry and Power'', Basic Books (New York City), 1964 * ''The Girl in the Black Raincoat'', edited by George Garrett, Duell, Sloane & Pierce, 1966 * ''The Marvelous Light'', edited by Helen Plotz, Crowell (New York, NY), 1970 * ''Inside Outer Space'', edited by Robert Vas Dias, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1970.

Reviews

Reading the ''Collected Poems'', one sees Howes very clearly as a woman writing in one of the oddest but most important traditions of American poetry. Howes stands with
Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood, ...
,
Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...
, and ultimately
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
in a lineage of women writers passionately committed to the independence and singularity of the poetic imagination. (To this group one might also add
Louise Bogan Louise Bogan (August 11, 1897 – February 4, 1970) was an American poet. She was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945, and was the first woman to hold this title. Throughout her life she wrote poetry, fiction, ...
,
Julia Randall Julia Randall (June 15, 1923–May 22, 2005) was an American poet, professor, and environmental activist; recipient of many honors for her poetry, she published seven books of poetry culminating in ''The Path to Fairview: New and Selected Poems'' ...
,
May Swenson Anna Thilda May "May" Swenson (May 28, 1913 – December 4, 1989) was an American poet and playwright. Harold Bloom considered her one of the most important and original poets of the 20th century. The first child of Margaret and Dan Arthur S ...
, and Josephine Miles). They form an eccentric but eminent sorority.

References

External links

"Barbara Howes", ''Poetry Foundation''
* Barbara Howes Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 1914 births 1996 deaths Bennington College alumni American expatriates in Italy American expatriates in the United Kingdom Writers from New York City Writers from Boston American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers {{US-poet-1900s-stub