author
Cotton Noe
1864–1953
A Kentucky poet, teacher, and lawyer who helped shape his state’s literary identity, he became the first Poet Laureate of Kentucky in 1926. His work reflects a lifelong devotion to poetry, education, and public culture.
2 Audiobooks
The Loom of Life
by Cotton Noe
About the author
Born in Washington County, Kentucky, James Thomas Cotton Noe built a varied career as a poet, teacher, lawyer, and school administrator. Archival records from the University of Kentucky describe him as someone who studied at Franklin College in Indiana and later did graduate work at Cornell and the University of Chicago.
Noe taught English at Lincoln Memorial University and at the University of Kentucky, where he went on to lead the Department of Publicity and Publications. He is especially remembered in Kentucky literary history as the state's first Poet Laureate, a distinction noted by Kentucky's poet laureate records.
His surviving papers show a long professional life centered on writing, lectures, correspondence, and poetry. For listeners drawn to regional voices and early 20th-century American verse, Noe stands out as a figure who connected literature, education, and civic life in Kentucky.