Barbara Howes (May 1, 1914 – February 24, 1996) 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,

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

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

. 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, Louisi ...

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

Pownal, Vermont Pownal is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town population was 3,258. The town of Pownal includes the villages of Pownal (CDP) ...

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

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Her work was published in: ''

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

'', ''

Chicago Review ''Chicago Review'' is a student-run literary magazine founded in 1946 and published quarterly in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago. The magazine features contemporary poetry, fiction, and criticism, often publishing works in tr ...

'', '' New Directions'', '' New Republic'', ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'', ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', '' Saturday Review'', ''

Southern Review ''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes ficti ...

'', ''University of Kansas Review'', ''

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussio ...

'', and ''

Yale Review ''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on ...

''.

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 in Paris. ThNew England Poetry Clubawards the Rose annually for American poetry. ...

* 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 Modernism, modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for its formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. In 1968 Nobel Prize in Li ...
,
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 ( – ) 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, and criticism, and became the ...
, Julia Randall,
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. Born to Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson, she ...
, 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