Each year the month of April is set aside as National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poets and their craft. Of course, since this is Feminist Friday, I decided to explore women poets. There are very many accomplished women poets to celebrate but I want to talk about Sara Teasdale today. Sara won the first Columbia Poetry Prize in 1918 which later would be renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Thus making Sara the first poet, male or female, to win this prize.
Like many women poets it seems that Sara did not live a happy life. Sara Teasdale’s poetry was very popular during her lifetime and she received public admiration for her well-crafted lyrical poetry which centered on a woman’s changing perspectives on beauty, love, and death. Many of Teasdale’s poems chart developments in her own life, from her experiences as a sheltered young woman in St. Louis, to those as a successful yet increasingly uneasy writer in New York City, to a depressed and disillusioned person who would commit suicide in 1933.
What follows is a poem from her Pulitzer Prize winning collection, Love Songs.
Barter
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit’s still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
SARA TEASDALE YOU ROCK!
I invite you to share a story about an inspiring woman in the comments section. Just leave us a link to your post. We can never read too many stories about inspiring women. 
So sad that she took her own life and that many women poets have tragic lives…I wonder why that is. This is a beautiful life-affirming poem – thank you for teaching us about Sara’s life. Wishing you a peaceful weekend, Bernadette 😀❤️
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Thanks Annika. I almost didn’t write about her because of her suicide…. I think perhaps women poets in the past were very frustrated with society’s expectations for them. In Sara’s case, she married a man for security while still being in love with another man who was a poet and could not support her the way her family expected her to live.
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It’s a good reminder for women today–the fact that many women poets did commit suicide, perhaps due to their societal frustrations and expectations. Each poet has her own story, but they all share some commonalities.
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A very good post. Thanks for sharing!
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I love Sara Teasdale. I’ve sung in choral groups that sang works based on her poetry and it was powerful for me. Sometimes I would have trouble getting through the song due to the emotion I felt . Here is a link about two remarkable women. Erma Bombeck and my mother, who wrote a little poetry herself. Hope you enjoy! http://www.shallowreflections.com/who-was-erma-bombeck-and-why-does-she-matter/
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I can’t wait to read your post. Erma Bombeck is one of my favorite women.
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This moved me to tears. Erma definitely was the voice for a generation of women. A voice that told the truth gently and with hilarity. After reading your Mom’s poem I would say that a very special edition of Erma was writing her words and living her life in Maine. Thanks for sharing your Mom with us today.
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Thank you so much Bernadette. My mother raised me to be a big fan of all things Erma and I read all of her books last year. Her writing, while having outdated social references at times, is truly timeless and I felt a bond with her through my never ending bond with my sweet mother.
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Sara Teasdale, a beautiful mind but unfortunately overcome with sadness. Thank you for sharing, Bernadette. I am a fan of Erma Bombeck, as well.
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Perfect share for National Poetry Month, Bernadette! 🙂
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I cannot wait until we have no need for a Women’s Day, a Black Authors Month, etc. When all are given equal opportunities and recognized for their craft/accomplishments.
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From your pen to God’s ears.
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I love Sara Teasdale-but had not read this one-which I adore!!! thank you!
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A beautiful poem and so sad that she wasn’t able to find that loveliness, peace, and ecstasy in her own life. Thanks for sharing, Bernadette.
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I accidentally chanced upon Sara Teasdale’s poetry while I was browsing on Instagram (of all places!) I have come to know her poetry, and a little bit of her life, since then. It is sad how women writers like Sara and Virginia Woolf were so talented, and yet too gentle for this world, that they had to take their own lives. Maybe it was that vulnerability that guided their hand to pen these beautiful works of art?
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