author
Helen A. (Helen Archibald) Clarke
1860–1926
A lively force in American literary culture at the turn of the 20th century, this critic and editor helped found Poet Lore and brought major writers like Shakespeare and the Brownings to a wider audience. She also came from a musical family and worked as a composer and lyricist, giving her literary writing an unusually rich artistic range.
4 Audiobooks
Browning's England: A Study in English Influences in Browning
by Helen A. (Helen Archibald) Clarke
A Guide to Mythology
by Helen A. (Helen Archibald) Clarke
Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies
by Charlotte (Charlotte Endymion) Porter, Helen A. (Helen Archibald) Clarke
Browning and His Century
by Helen A. (Helen Archibald) Clarke
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1860, Helen Archibald Clarke grew up in a deeply musical household; her father, Hugh Archibald Clarke, was a composer and professor of music at the University of Pennsylvania. Before women were formally admitted there, she studied at the university as a special student and earned a certificate in music.
Clarke became best known as a literary critic, editor, and co-founder of Poet Lore, an influential journal devoted to poetry, Shakespeare, Browning, and comparative literature. Through that work, and through her editorial projects on writers including Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, she helped shape the reading tastes of a wide American audience.
She was more than an editor: Clarke also wrote, composed, and collaborated widely, bringing together music and literature throughout her career. She died in Boston in 1926, remembered as one of the energetic women who helped build serious literary culture for general readers in the United States.