Reese, Lizette Woodworth (1856-1935)
 | Lizette Woodworth Reese was a nationally acclaimed poet whose work H. L. Mencken would call “one of the imperishable glories of American literature.” Reese spent her career as an English teacher in the Baltimore public schools, but found her truest passion in poetry. In 1874, her first poem was published in Southern Magazine and was followed by the publication of 12 poetry collections, 2 memoirs, and a novel. Reese was elected the poet laureate of Maryland by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, received an honorary doctorate from Goucher College, and served as the honorary president of the Poetry Society of Maryland. She was the honorary president of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, and a co-founder of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, where she served as chair of the modern poetry committee from 1890 until her death in 1935. |
A Branch of May (Cushings & Bailey, 1887). full-text
"Daffodils" (Century Apr. 1890); poetry.
A Handful of Lavender (Houghton, Mifflin, 1891). full-text
"Tell Me Some Way" (Scribner's, Dec. 1888); poetry.
"An Old Belle" (Century, Oct. 1892); poetry.
"Her Last Word" (Scribner's, Sept. 1892); poetry.
"An English Missal" (Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1892); poetry
"Consolation" (Century, Apr. 1893); poetry.
"When Polly Takes the Air" (Century, Sept. 1893); poetry.
"The Jonquil and the Rose" (Ladies' Home Journal, May 1896); poetry.
"Mystery" (Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1896); poetry.
A Quiet Road (Farrar & Rinehart, 1896). full-text
"The House of Silent Years" (Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1897); poetry.
"A Valentine" (Scribner's, Feb. 1897); poetry.
"The Cry of Rachel" (Lippincott's, July 1899); poetry.
"Tears" (Scribner's, Nov. 1899); poetry
"Taps" (Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1899); poetry.
"Timrod" (Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1900); poetry.
"To Song" (Atlantic Monthly, June 1900); poetry.
"Lydia" (Harper's, May 1903); poetry.
"Cornelia's Birthday" (Harper's Monthly, June 1903); fiction.
"Lavender" (Lippincott's Monthly, May 1904); fiction.
"Wise" (Harper's Monthly, Oct. 1903); poetry.
"The Dropping Bloom" (Harper's Monthly, Nov. 1905); poetry.
A Wayside Lute (Thomas B. Mosher, 1916). full-text
"Westminster Churchyard," in Edgar Allan Poe: A Centenary Tribute (Baltimore, 1910): pp 15-17. link to text
"Seventy Times Seven" (Lippincott's, Dec. 1912); fiction.
"The Common Lot" (Harper's Monthly, May 1913); poetry.
"Fog" (Harper's, May 1914); poetry.
Spicewood (Norman Remington, 1920). full-text
Wild Cherry (Norman Remington, 1923). full-text
Selected Poems (Longmans, Green, 1927)
A Victorian Village: Reminiscences of Other Days (Farrar & Rinehart, 1927)
The Pamphlet Poets (Simon & Schuster, 1928)
White April and Other Poems (Farrar & Rinehart, 1930). full-text
"Forgiveness," from The York Road (Farrar & Rinehart, 1931); memoir; pp 125-138.
Pastures and Other Poems (Farrar & Rinehart, 1933)
"Ghosts" (The Nation, June 27, 1934); poetry.
"A Christmas Song" (Gardens, Houses, and People, Dec. 1935); poetry.
"To an Indecent Novelist" (Gardens, Houses, and People, Jan. 1936); poetry.
The Old House in the Country (Farrar & Rinehart, 1936)
The Worleys (Farrar & Rinehart, 1936); fiction.
In Praise of Common Things (Greenwood Press, 1992)