Sara Teasdale: a Beloved Poet

“I shall die not knowing the thing I longed to know.” - from I KNOW THE STARS, Sara Teasdale I have a thin volume of poetry I got when young. Its title is “Those Who Love.” The author was an American who lived during a poetically creative period of time from 1884 until her death in 1933. A poetic songstress, Sara published her first book of sonnets in 1907, winning a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection “Love Songs” a decade later. Titles of her books convey her love of nature. “Rivers of the Sea,” “Dark of the Moon,” and “Starry To-night” are examples of books that incorporated nature with emotions. The small book in my collection “Those Who Love” is a treasure trove of metaphors and symbolism. I can only imagine how splendid must be the other books of Teasdale’s which I have not read. The motivating forces of *“beauty, love and friendship” musically influenced Sara’s writing as well. Indeed, many of Sara’s poems were set to music by composers who recognized their quality of lyricism, romance and great beauty. Poems of hers have been translated into other languages too. I’m a little surprised that Sara’s name is not more well-known among many of my poet friends or by the world in general today. Perhaps I would not have ever known her work either had I not been given that thin volume of her poetry years ago. I was a young teen when I first held that book in my hands. I was quickly absorbed by its lyrical gems of wisdom. Young and filled with my own romantic notions, I devoured Sara’s poetic phrases of love and other emotions. That little book “Those Who Love” includes fifty-five pages of exactly fifty-nine poems, not often more than a few stanzas long, the majority of which are poems with short rhyming lines profound in their simplicity and symbolism. I think her use of metaphors seeped into my subconsciousness. “I am the pool of blue that worships the vivid sky.” Lines like that one written by Teasdale made me cherish imagery. If only I could write as many lines as divinely as she did. Sara Teasdale had been at first been happily married in New York, but a close friend’s death, divorce and increasingly poor health led her into solitude as her poetry deepened, becoming more intense. By suicide she left this world, alone and sad. *from Sara Teasdale: A Biography, by Margaret Haley Jan. 15, 2023 for the 'Beloved Poets' Poetry contest of Regina McIntosh