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Genevieve Taggard (November 28, 1894 – November 8, 1948) was an Americanpoet.[1]
Genevieve Taggard was born inWaitsburg, Washington, to James Taggard and Alta Arnold, both of whom were school teachers. Her parents were both active members of theDisciples of Christ, and at age two her parents moved toHonolulu, Hawaii, where they became missionaries and founded a school in which they also taught.
Genevieve Taggard began writing poetry at the early age of 13. In 1914 the family left Hawaii, and Taggard enrolled at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. Here she became an active member of the socialist political and literary community. She graduated in 1919 upon which she moved toNew York City in 1920.[2]
Once in New York she started working for the publisherB. W. Huebsch and in 1921 she co-founded the journalThe Measure along with fellow writer and friendMaxwell Anderson. In the same year she married poet and novelistRobert Wolf with whom she had her only child Marcia Wolf (later Liles). Upon living in New York for most of the 1920s she assumed a teaching position atMount Holyoke College, where she taught from 1929 to 1930.
In 1931, she was aGuggenheim Fellow.[3]In 1932, she accepted a professorship atBennington College. In 1934 Taggard and Wolf divorced, and the following year she marriedKenneth Durant.[4] In 1934, she moved on to teach atSarah Lawrence College, where she remained until 1947, a year before her death.
Her poems were published inThe Nation,[5]The Kenyon Review,The New Yorker,The New Republic.
During the 1930s, sparked in part by theGreat Depression, but also largely by her philanthropic upbringing and her commitment to socialism, her poetry began to reflect her political and social views much more prominently. During this time aGuggenheim Fellowship allowed her to spend a year inMajorca,Spain andAntibes,France. The experience of Spain in its time shortly before the Spanish Civil War gave further rise and inspiration to her cause of raising social and political awareness of civil rights issues.
Her papers are held atDartmouth College[6] and theNew York Public Library.[7]
Media related toGenevieve Taggard at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or aboutGenevieve Taggard atWikisource
