![Helen Hoyt 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Helen_Hoyt_001.jpg)
Helen Lyman commonly known as Helen Hoyt or Helen Hoyt Lyman (January 22, 1887 – August 2, 1972)
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 writte ...
.
Biography
She was born as Helen Hoyt in
Norwalk, Connecticut
, image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 230px
, map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...
on January 22, 1887, to Gould and Georgiana (Baird) Hoyt.
Helen Hoyt attended Miss Baird's School for Girls in Norwalk, Connecticut, which was owned by her aunt, Cornelia F. Baird. She later was educated at
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
, where she received an
A. B. in 1909.
In 1921, she married fellow poet
William Whittingham Lyman Jr, and so also became known either as Mrs. W.W. Lyman or Helen Hoyt Lyman.
Early in her career, Hoyt was an Associate Editor of the journal ''
Poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
'', and also had numerous articles and poems published within the magazine from 1913 to 1936. She also edited the September 1916 edition of ''
Others: A Magazine of the New Verse'',
the woman's number. Other magazines to publish her work include ''
The Egoist
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' and ''
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was s ...
''.
Aside from her own collections, her work was also published in notable anthologies of her times, including ''The New Poetry: An Anthology'' (1917), ''The Second Book of Modern Verse'' (1920), ''Silver Pennies: Modern Poems for Boys and Girls'' (1925), ''May Days'' (1926), and ''The Best Poems of 1931''.
Her poems include ''Ellis Park'', ''Memory'', ''Lamp Posts'' and ''Rain At Night''.
In 1932, she wrote the foreword to ''California Poets: An Anthology of 244 Contemporaries,''
ouse of Henry Harrison, editors
She was a contemporary of
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, ...
and
Mina Loy
Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...
, among others.
She was known to entertain correspondence with
Idella Purnell Stone and
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...
.
Publications
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Quotation
"At present most of what we know, or think we know, of women has been found out by men,
we have yet to hear what woman will tell of herself, and where can she tell more intimately than in poetry?"
''
Others: A Magazine of the New Verse'' in 1916
References
External links
The New Poetry: An Anthology at Bartleby.com*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyt, Helen
1887 births
1972 deaths
Writers from Norwalk, Connecticut
American women poets
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
Barnard College alumni