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Ina Donna Coolbrith (born Josephine Donna Smith; March 10, 1841 – February 29, 1928) was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state. Coolbrith, born the niece of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith, left the Mormon community as a child to enter her teens in Los Angeles, California, where she began to publish poetry. She terminated a youthful failed marriage to make her home in San Francisco, and met writers Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard with whom she formed the "Golden Gate Trinity" closely associated with the literary journal Overland Monthly. Her poetry received positive notice from critics and established poets such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce and Alfred Lord Tennyson. She held literary salons at her home in Russian Hill—in this way she introduced new writers to publishers. Coolbrith befriended the poet Joaquin Miller and helped him gain global fame. While Miller toured Europe and lived out their mutual dream of visiting Lord Byron's tomb, Coolbrith cared for his Wintu daughter and members of her own family. As a result, she came to reside in Oakland and accepted the position of city librarian. Her poetry suffered as a result of her long work hours, but she mentored a generation of young readers including Jack London and Isadora Duncan. After she served for 19 years, Oakland's library patrons called for reorganization, and Coolbrith was fired. She moved back to San Francisco and was invited by members of the Bohemian Club to be their librarian. Coolbrith began to write a history of California literature, including much autobiographical material, but the fire following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake consumed her work. Author Gertrude Atherton and Coolbrith's Bohemian Club friends helped set her up again in a new house, and she resumed writing and holding literary salons. She traveled by train to New York City several times and, with fewer worldly cares, greatly increased her poetry output. On June 30, 1915, Coolbrith was named California's poet laureate, and she continued to write poetry for eight more years. Her style was more than the usual melancholic or uplifting themes expected of women—she included a wide variety of subjects in her poems, which were noted as being "singularly sympathetic" and "palpably spontaneous". Her sensuous descriptions of natural scenes advanced the art of Victorian poetry to incorporate greater accuracy without trite sentiment, foreshadowing the Imagist school and the work of Robert Frost. California poet laureate Carol Muske-Dukes wrote of Coolbrith's poems that, though they "were steeped in a high tea lavender style", influenced by a British stateliness, "California remained her inspiration." (en) Ina Donna Coolbrith (née Josephine Donna Smith le 10 mars 1841 à Nauvoo et morte le 29 février 1928 à Oakland) est une poétesse, écrivaine et bibliothécaire américaine. Figure éminente de la communauté littéraire de la région de la baie de San Francisco, elle a été la première (en). Elle est la nièce de Joseph Smith, fondateur du mormonisme. Un sommet porte son nom, le (en). (fr) Ina Donna Coolbrith (Nauvoo, 10 marzo 1841 – Oakland, 29 febbraio 1928) è stata una poetessa, scrittrice e giornalista statunitense nota soprattutto per essere stata la prima poetessa laureata in uno degli Stati Uniti, precisamente la California.A conferirle tale riconoscimento è stato , direttore dell'università della California, poi nel 1919 il Senato glielo ha confermato. Si è trattato, comunque, più in generale di una figura centrale della cultura californiana del suo tempo: ha infatti creato attorno a sé un giro d'amicizie che comprendeva scrittori ancora oggi molto conosciuti, come ad esempio Jack London, per il quale è stata praticamente una figura materna. Ha pertanto ricevuto più riconoscimenti. Alcuni le sono stati attribuiti da movimenti femministi: nel 1893, ad esempio, il , parte della Fiera Colombiana di Chicago la celebra come poetessa, dopo aver declamato i versi composti per l'occasione, ispirati ad una statua di Isabella di Castiglia realizzata da Harriet Hosmer ed esposta al padiglione californiano. Oggi è sepolta al cimitero di Mountain View. (it) Ina Coolbrith (ur. 10 marca 1841 w Nauvoo, zm. 29 lutego 1928 w Berkeley) – poetka amerykańska. (pl) |
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"And love will stay, a summer's day!" (en) A long wave rippled up the strand, (en) Ah, well! sweet summer's past and gone,— (en) And gives her secret to his hands. (en) And greets her while his heart rejoices. (en) And laughed—"O doubting heart, have peace! (en) And love, perchance, shuns wintry weather,— (en) And plucked a sea-shell from the sand; (en) And sees, each morn, the world arise (en) And so the pretty dears are flown (en) And the eyes closed to open not again (en) Done with all yearning, done with all regret, (en) Doubt, fear, hope, sorrow, all forever past; (en) "Were I to write what I know, the book would be too sensational to print, but were I to write what I think proper, it would be too dull to read." (en) He hears the laughter of her rills, (en) He walks with God upon the hills! (en) Her melodies of many voices, (en) I smile: this little pearly-lined, (en) It must be sweet to slumber and forget; (en) It must be sweet, O thou, my dead, to lie (en) It must be sweet, it must be very sweet! (en) Makes answer as a little child; (en) New-bathed in light of paradise. (en) On desolate dawn or dreariness of night. (en) On lightsome, careless wings together. (en) Past all the hours, or slow of wing or fleet— (en) Pink-veined shell she gave to me, (en) Sealed with the seal of the great mystery, (en) She flashed a white hand through the spray (en) She to his spirit undefiled, (en) Still sing its love, the sea. (en) The life-long struggle ended; ended quite (en) The lips that nothing answer, nothing ask. (en) The weariness of patience, and of pain, (en) This fond, remembering shell will cease (en) To have the poor tired heart so still at last; (en) To sing its love, the sea." (en) Unveiled before his eyes she stands, (en) When faith of mine shall fail to thee (en) With foolish, faithful lips to find (en) With hands that folded are from every task; (en) "...I named you 'Noble'. That is what you were to me—noble. That was the feeling I got from you. Oh, yes, I got, also, the feeling of sorrow and suffering, but dominating them, always riding above all, was noble. No woman has so affected me to the extent you did. I was only a little lad. I knew absolutely nothing about you. Yet in all the years that have passed I have met no woman so noble as you." (en) —Ina Coolbrith, on the absence of an autobiography (en) —Jack London, in a letter to Coolbrith (en) |
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Ina Donna Coolbrith (née Josephine Donna Smith le 10 mars 1841 à Nauvoo et morte le 29 février 1928 à Oakland) est une poétesse, écrivaine et bibliothécaire américaine. Figure éminente de la communauté littéraire de la région de la baie de San Francisco, elle a été la première (en). Elle est la nièce de Joseph Smith, fondateur du mormonisme. Un sommet porte son nom, le (en). (fr) Ina Coolbrith (ur. 10 marca 1841 w Nauvoo, zm. 29 lutego 1928 w Berkeley) – poetka amerykańska. (pl) Ina Donna Coolbrith (born Josephine Donna Smith; March 10, 1841 – February 29, 1928) was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state. (en) Ina Donna Coolbrith (Nauvoo, 10 marzo 1841 – Oakland, 29 febbraio 1928) è stata una poetessa, scrittrice e giornalista statunitense nota soprattutto per essere stata la prima poetessa laureata in uno degli Stati Uniti, precisamente la California.A conferirle tale riconoscimento è stato , direttore dell'università della California, poi nel 1919 il Senato glielo ha confermato. (it) |
