Karle Wilson Baker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 13, 1878 (1878-10-13) |
| Died | November 8, 1960(1960-11-08) (aged 82) |
| Pen name | Charlotte Wilson |
| Occupation | |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 20th century |
Karle Wilson Baker (néeWilson; 1878–1960) was an Americanpoet andauthor, born inLittle Rock,Ark. to Kate Florence Montgomery Wilson and William Thomas Murphey Wilson. Educated at theUniversity of Chicago, she studied under poetWilliam Vaughn Moody and novelistRobert Herrick,[1] and later went on to write her own poems and novels.
Under thepseudonym of "Charlotte Wilson," she was co-author ofWomen and Prisons (1912), published inLondon by theFabian Society. She contributed fiction and poetry toHarper's,Atlantic Monthly,Yale Review,The Century, etc., and was the author ofBlue Smoke, a collection of poetry (1919),The Garden of the Plynck (1920),The Burning Bush (1922), andOld Coins (1923).
In 1893, Baker decided to add a final "e" to the end of her first name in order to better avoid the gender confusions with her name. Yet, despite this change, her name continued to be mistaken as a man's by fans and reviewers of her writings.[1] In 1900, Baker first visitedNacogdoches,Texas to see her parents. Later, in 1906, she permanently moved fromLittle Rock, Arkansas, where she had been teaching school, toNacogdoches. There, she fell in love with the beauty of the surrounding nature, which she would later describe in her book,The Birds of Tanglewood. AtNacogdoches, she also met her future husband, Thomas Ellis Baker, and the two married in 1907.[2] Together they had two children: Thomas Wilson Baker (born 1908), who later became a banker, andCharlotte Baker Montgomery (1910), who later wrote and illustrated many of her own children's books, as well as two adult novels.[3]
From 1924 to 1934, she became a teacher inNacogdoches, teaching contemporary poetry atStephen F. Austin State University (SFA). In fact, when her poem titled "The Pine Tree Hymn" was written, it also became adopted as the school song for SFA. During this time, she was also able to publish two children's readers,Texas Flag Primer (1926) andTwo Little Texans (1932), one of which became a state textbook for school children from 1926 to 1929.[3] In addition to her teaching career, she also published three more books:The Birds of Tanglewood describing the birds withinNacogdoches,Dreamers on Horseback (her last book of collected poems),Family Style (1937) a novel recounting the occurrence of the East Texan oil boom, andStar of the Wilderness (1942), which became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.[3]
In addition to teaching atStephen F. Austin University (1924–1934), she also gave lectures at various colleges, women's clubs, and literary groups in Texas. Later on in her life, she also attendedUniversity of Chicago,Columbia University, andUniversity of California at Berkeley.[4] Soon known as one of Texas' most talented writers, Baker received the most recognition and honors of any female poet in Texas during the 20th century.[5] As a charter member of the Institute of Letters, the Poetry Society of Texas, and the Philosophical Society of Texas, she was also the first female and third person to be named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters.[6] Her accomplishments included having had her first four books published by the Yale University Press, being awarded with an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the Southern Methodist University in 1924, and being nominated for thePulitzer Prize for Poetry for her last collection of poetryDreamers on Horseback in 1931. She was 82 years old when she died on November 8, 1960.
Written by author Sarah Ragland Jackson, this biography describes Karle Wilson Baker's life as a remarkable Texas poet of the 20th century, but whose important contributions to Texas literature have been overshadowed by her male contemporaries. Published in December 2005, this book provides thorough well-researched details on Baker's life and gives readers more of an insight to Karle Wilson Baker's challenge in making her way into the mainly male-dominated literary world of that time.[17]
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