- Bookm. 51 (’20): 76.
- Dial, 68 (’20): 496.
- Freeman, 4 (’21): 238.
- See also Book Review Digest, 1920, 1921.
Born at Rochester, New York, 1878. A. B., Vassar, 1902. Taught English at Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1903. In 1905, studied archæology in Rome. Instructor in poetics at Smith College, 1911; but stopped teaching because of failing health. Died at Saranac Lake, 1914.
She had begun an investigation into the structure of English verse, which she was unable to finish. Her poems were nearly all written after her breakdown in 1913, and reflect the tragic experience through which she was passing.
Some of them are written in a form of her own invention, the “cinquain” (five unrhymed lines, having two, four, six, eight, and two syllables).
Suggestions for Reading
1. Miss Crapsey’s theories of versification should be remembered in studying her forms.
2. What is to be said of her verbal economy?
3. A comparison of her verses with those of Emily Dickinson has been suggested. Carried out in detail, it suggests interesting points of difference as well as of resemblance.
Bibliography