author

Elizabeth Atkins

1891–1962

A Nebraska-born writer and scholar, she moved between literary criticism, biography, and fiction with a clear, thoughtful style. She is best remembered for studying poets closely and for writing a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

1 Audiobook

The Poet's Poet : essays on the character and mission of the poet as interpreted in English verse of the last one hundred and fifty years

The Poet's Poet : essays on the character and mission of the poet as interpreted in English verse of the last one hundred and fifty years

by Elizabeth Atkins

About the author

Born in Sterling, Nebraska, on October 20, 1891, Elizabeth Atkins was an American author whose published work ranged from criticism to biography to fiction. Nebraska Authors records that she died in Los Angeles, California, on December 19, 1962.

Her best-known books include The Poet's Poet (1922), a study of how poets describe their own calling, and Edna St. Vincent Millay and Her Times (1936), a full-length book on one of the most celebrated poets of the era. Nebraska Authors also lists her 1941 novel Holy Suburb, showing the breadth of her writing life.

Atkins is still easy to encounter through public-domain and library records, especially The Poet's Poet, which is available through Project Gutenberg and listed on Wikisource under her author page. Even from this small surviving record, she comes across as a serious literary observer who cared deeply about poetry and the lives behind it.