author

Elizabeth Atkins

1891–1962

A Nebraska-born scholar and critic, this early 20th-century writer is best remembered for The Poet’s Poet, a thoughtful study of how poets describe their own calling. Her work blends literary analysis with a clear curiosity about inspiration, art, and the role of poetry in everyday life.

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, teacher, and literary scholar. She was also known as Mary Elizabeth Atkins, and records place her later death in Los Angeles, California, on December 19, 1962.

Atkins worked at Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, and at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The best-confirmed book connected with her is 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, published in 1922.

That book shows her interest in how poets explain their own art and purpose. Even from the title and surviving editions alone, she comes across as a writer deeply interested in poetry not just as literature, but as a way of thinking about imagination, vocation, and inner life.