>>Charming poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale
Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1883 - January 29, 1933), was an American
lyrical poet. She was born Sarah Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis,
Missouri.
Teasdale's major themes were love, nature's beauty, and death, and her
poems were much loved during the early 20th century. In 1918 she won
the Columbia University Poetry Society prize (the forerunner of the
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry) and the annual prize of the Poetry Society
of America for her volume, Love Songs. Her style and lyricism are well
illustrated in her poem, "Spring Night" (1915), from that collection.
Throughout her life, Teasdale suffered poor health and it was not
until she was nine that she was judged healthy enough to begin school
- a private school for children just one block away from her home. In
1898 she attended Mary Institute, and the following year she enrolled
in Hosmer Hall, from which she graduated in 1903. Her influences
included the actress Duse, whom she never saw perform, the British
poet Christina Rossetti, and numerous trips to Europe, beginning in
1905.
In 1913, Teasdale was courted by two admirers. The poet Vachel Lindsay
fell in love with her and at one point was sending her long, fantastic
love letters on a daily basis expressing his true love. He asked her
to marry him, but though she had deep feelings for Vachel, she instead
married Ernst Filsinger, a wealthy businessman in 1914 when she was
thirty years old. The following year they moved to New York City,
which became her home for the rest of her life. Teasdale and Lindsay
remained fond but platonic friends throughout their lives, and Lindsay
said that she was his life's "most inspiring, most satisfying friend."
She was the inspiration for what Lindsay believed to be his greatest
poem, "The Chinese Nightingale".
Teasdale was very much a product of her Victorian upbringing, and she
was never able to experience in life the passion that she expressed in
her poetry. She was not happy in her marriage, and she divorced
Filsinger in 1929, against his wishes. Teasdale's health further
declined. On the morning of January 29, 1933, in her New York City
apartment, Teasdale took an overdose of sleeping pills, lay down in a
warm bath, fell asleep, and never woke up again. Her last, and some
say her finest, collection of verse, Strange Victory, was published
posthumously that same year. In 1931, two years before Teasdale's
suicide, Vachel Lindsay, her friend and former suitor, had also
committed suicide.
In 1994 Sara Teasdale was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
She is interred in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
--
The Tuesday Afternoon Show Episode 39:
The Dangling Clock
Scotto and Uncle John comment on the Academy Awards, explain the
Tuesday Afternoon Drinking Game and take one more shot at The History
of Death as Sam tries Schrodinger's Ale, Uncle John unveils his latest
B-Movie Pick, we get an update on The Bear Suit Guy and Scotto brings
back Story Time. Featuring musical guests, Shadowville All-Stars.
http://www.johnhmaloney.com/tuesdayshow/index.htm
"Dream Tears" by Dockery-Mallard:
http://www.myspace.com/shadowvilleallstars
