Rosemary Thomas (February 16, 1901 – April 7, 1961) was an American poet and teacher, known for her book of poems ''Immediate Sun'', which won the Twayne First Book Contest in 1951.

Education

Thomas graduated 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 1923. In 1950, she received a Master of Arts degree from

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 ...

for an essay on

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

, the British poet and novelist. She taught creative writing at various schools including

Spence School The Spence School is an American all-girls private school in New York City, founded in 1892 by Clara B. Spence. Spence has about 740 students, with grades K-4 representing the Lower School, 5-8 representing the Middle School, and 9-12 represe ...

and

Brearley School The Brearley School is an American all-girls private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It educates approximately 770 girls in grades K–12, with approximately 50 to 65 students per grade. In addition to being a member ...

in New York,

Shipley School The Shipley School is an independent pre-K12 college preparatory school in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 10 miles west-northwest of Philadelphia. History Hannah Shipley, Elizabeth Shipley, and Katharine Shipley, all siste ...

in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and Oxford School in Hartford, Connecticut.

Literary career

In 1951, Thomas won the Twayne First Book Contest for her only book of poems, ''Immediate Sun''. The book had a foreword written by

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

, who described her poems as having "a common quality, a characteristic idiom, and inflection the reader would recognize again as a man recognizes the inflection of a decisive voice". The book includes a poem about her brother-in-law, Canadian tennis star J.F. Foulkes, entitled "The Colonel". Her poems were also published in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and in other magazines. The final years of her life, which she devoted entirely to her writing, were divided between her homes in

Duxbury, Massachusetts Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 2020 census. The tow ...

, and

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 ...

, where she died in 1961.

Legacy

A posthumous collection of her poems was published in 1968, titled ''Selected Poems of Rosemary Thomas'', with a foreword by

Mark van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

. He wrote: "Rosemary Thomas's poems will last, as all things excellent do, for the simple reason that nothing like them exists elsewhere." In 2004, her poem "The Elephants Pass Carnegie Hall" was set to music by composer

David Leisner David Leisner (born December 22, 1953) is an American classical guitarist, composer and teacher whose activities include recording, arranging and writing about music.Cooper, Colin. "Journey of Discovery: David Leisner Talks to Colin Cooper," '' ...

in his piece ''A Timeless Procession''. It was first performed in 2011 at

Symphony Space Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theat ...

in New York City. The program for the performance records that Leisner discovered Thomas's poems by chance at a library book sale in the late 1980s. He describes her as a "lyrical, imaginative, spiritual-minded poet whose work simply begged me to set it to music". The English Language and Literature Department at

awards the Rosemary Thomas Poetry Prize annually to the best poem or group of poems.

References

External links

Selected Poems of Rosemary Thomas
at Google Books
Rosemary Thomas papers, 1930–1966
at Columbia University Libraries
Search results for Rosemary Thomas
poems published in the ''New Yorker'' between 1954 and 1961 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Rosemary 1901 births 1961 deaths American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Smith College alumni Columbia University alumni Poets from Massachusetts Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania Schoolteachers from New York (state) People from Duxbury, Massachusetts Schoolteachers from Connecticut Poets from New York City 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators The New Yorker people