Queer Places:
Smith College (Seven Sisters), 9 Elm St, Northampton, MA 01063
65 Williams Street, Pittsfield, Berkshire, MA
Fannie
Stearns Davis Gifford (March 6, 1884 - 1958) was an American poet. The editors of Poetry, Harriet Monroe and
Alice Corbin Henderson
included in their 1917 selection for The New Poetry: An Anthology
poems by
Fannie Stearns Davis. According to
Adrienne Munich and Melissa Bradshaw,
authors of Amy Lowell, American Modern, what connects these poets is their
appartenance to the queer sisterhood.
Davis was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 6, 1884, the daughter of William Vail Wilson Davis and Rebecca Frances "Fanny" Stearns. She attended Pittsfield High School and graduated from Smith College with an A.B. in 1904. She is credited with having three books of poetry: she published, Myself and I, 1913, and Crack O' Dawn, 1915, and The Ancient Beautiful Things, 1923. As Fannie Stearns Gifford, she published a non-fiction book, The Sunrise Prayer Meeting, 1916.
Her poetry is marked by sensitive poetic feeling and delicate artistry. Davis taught English at Kemper Hall in Kenoshay, Wisconsin from 1906-07. In 1910, she was instrumental in assisting her brother, William Stearns Davis, in editing his classic historical book, A Day in Old Athens. She earned the distinction of being listed in the 1914 Who's Who. Jessie Bell Rittenhouse was one of the many people that praised the lyrical quality of Davis' poetry.
On January 24, 1914, she married Augustus McKinstrey Gifford (1882-1955),[1] and lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.[2]
My published books:
