Joyce Kilmer
Joyce Kilmer
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Her full name was Joyce Christina Kilmer, but she is commonly known as Joyce Kilmer.
Birth and Death Dates
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Born on December 6, 1886, in Vermont, USA. She passed away on July 30, 1918, in France during World War I.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Joyce Kilmer was an American poet, writer, and journalist of the early 20th century.
Early Life and Background
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Kilmer grew up in a family that valued literature and writing. Her father, George Washington Kilmer, was a well-known linguist who had written about languages such as Japanese and Chinese. This exposure to language and culture likely influenced Joyce's own writing style and interest in exploring the world around her.
Joyce attended various schools throughout her youth, including the University of Colorado, where she studied English literature. However, she left university without completing a degree to pursue other interests and travel the world.
Major Accomplishments
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Kilmer was a prolific writer who produced numerous poems, short stories, and articles during her lifetime. Some of her notable works include:
Trees (1914) - a famous poem that has become one of Kilmer's most well-known pieces
The Pot (1909)
The Bugler
Kilmer also worked as an editor for various publications, including the Raleigh News and Observer* in North Carolina.
Notable Works or Actions
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In 1918, during World War I, Kilmer was part of a group of American soldiers who were sent to France to join the war effort. She died just days after arriving in the country when the bus she was riding in came under enemy fire. Her death at such a young age has made her an enduring figure in literature and poetry.
Impact and Legacy
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Kilmer's writing often focused on themes of nature, beauty, and human connection. Her poems continue to be widely read and studied today for their insight into the world around us.
Her most famous poem, Trees, is a powerful tribute to the natural world:
"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
Plenty of reason why
Not pass them by."
This poem has been praised for its ability to evoke feelings of peace and tranquility in readers.
Quotes by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast...
The air is like a butterfly With frail blue wings. The happy earth looks at the sky And sings.
The only reason a road is good as every wanderer knows / Is just because of the homes, the homes, the homes to which one goes
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.
The fairy poet takes a sheet Of moonbeam, silver white; His ink is dew from daisies sweet, His pen a point of light.
In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet, There is a new-made grave today, Built by never a spade nor pick, Yet covered with earth ten meteres thick. There lie many fighting men. Dead in their youthful prime.
They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,And now and then there's a toll-gate where you buy your way with tears.It's a rough road and a steep road and it stretches broad and far,But at last it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.
At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of something beautiful ... The only sort of book I care to write about the war is the sort people will read after the war is over - a century after it is over.