Leah Bodine Drake
Encyclopedia
Leah Bodine Drake was an American
poet, editor and critic.
, Kansas
in 1914. Her father was the oilman T.H. Drake. According to the jacket material of her A Hornbook for Witches, "her choice of the macabre in poetry comes naturally, for her earliest memories include the tremendous silences of the Navajo country, the woods and swamps of the deep South, and tales of 'ha'nts' told by Aunt Coopie, a negro member of the household". Also, according to this jacket material, her "ancestral background is English, Irish, Welsh, and French, and the family-tree includes Sir Francis Drake, Davy Crockett
, and Jean Bodin
, to whom she dedicated A Hornbook for Witches.
She attended Oakhurst School for Girls Cincinnatti, Hamilton College for Women
and Sayre College in Lexington
, Kentucky. She briefly worked as a Billy Rose
dancer in a revue at the Fort Worth
, Texas
Centennial Exposition in 1936-37. By then she was a published poet; her first poem for Weird Tales, "In the Shadows", appeared in the October 1935 issue. She was second only to Dorothy Quick in the number of poems she published with that magazine - nearly two dozen.
Drake's poems were published in many magazines including the Southern Literary Messenger
, The Cornhill Magazine, Weird Tales
, Nature, Commonweal, The Arkham Sampler, Country Bard, Wings, Talaria, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Poetry Chapbook, Silver Star, The New Yorker
, The Saturday Evening Post
and The Saturday Review. She was also a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly
. She received many awards from the Poetry Society of America
.
Drake lived in the Evansville, Indiana
Tri-State
for fifteen years and from 1941-1951 was a music and theater critic for the Evansville Courier. She was a member of the Vanderburgh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution
and a board member of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, for which she also edited the monthly newsletter The Baton.
Her "Ballad of the Jabberwock" won the Stephen Vincent Benet
Ballad Contest in 1946 and appeared for the first time in print in the anthology Dark of the Moon
, edited by August Derleth
, along with seven other fantastic poems by Drake.
Her first book of poetry A Hornbook for Witches
: Poems of Fantasy was published in 1950
by Arkham House
. The jacket material of the book gives her main interests apart from poetry as "collecting books illustrated by Dulac
and Rackham
, walking in the woods, Dixieland
jazz, the works of C.S. Lewis and, as Vice-President of" Evansville's Animal Refuge, Inc, "rescuing dogs, cats and horses from what E.E. Cummings calls 'manunkind'."
She won the $100 Arthur Davison Ficke
memorial award for sonnets. Her "Precarious Ground" won the Poetry Society's $300 first prize for the "best poem" published in any magazine in the English-speaking world in 1952.
Drake authored two short stories for Weird Tales as well - "Whisper Water" (May 1953) and "Mop-Head" (Jan 1954).
Her second collection of poetry was This Tilting Dust (Francestown, NH: Golden Quill Press, 1955), which won her the Borestone Mountain Poetry Award
. She won this award a second time later in her career. This Tilting Dust was a Finalist in the National Book Foundation
poetry awards for 1957.
Drake moved with her family to Henderson, Kentucky
in 1953, where she became a special feature writer for the Henderson Gleaner and Journal
Following her mother's death in 1957, she and her father moved to West Virginia, where for the last seven years of her life she lived in Parkersburg West Virginia, where she also worked on a newspaper. From 1957-1958 she worked as a poetry reviewer for The Atlantic Monthly.
Drake died of cancer, aged a month and a day short of her sixtieth birthday. At the time of her death she was working on a third collection of poetry which would have included 25 new poems together with a selection of poems from her second collection. This third collection was arranged posthumously published as Multiple Clay (1964).
She also collaborated on a poetry anthology, The Various Light: An Anthology of Modern Poetry in English with esoteric philosopher Dr Charles Muses
, which was published in Switzerland. (Lausanne
: Aurora Press, 1964; 500 copies).
She was listed in Who's Who in Poetry and in the 1958 supplement to Who's Who in America.
Drake's poem "They Run Again"' was reprinted in Peter Haining
's anthology Weird Tales (Carroll and Graf, 1990).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet, editor and critic.
Biography
Leah Bodine Drake was born in ChanuteChanute, Kansas
Chanute is a city in Neosho County, Kansas, United States. Founded on January 1, 1873, it was named after railroad engineer and aviation pioneer Octave Chanute. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,119...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
in 1914. Her father was the oilman T.H. Drake. According to the jacket material of her A Hornbook for Witches, "her choice of the macabre in poetry comes naturally, for her earliest memories include the tremendous silences of the Navajo country, the woods and swamps of the deep South, and tales of 'ha'nts' told by Aunt Coopie, a negro member of the household". Also, according to this jacket material, her "ancestral background is English, Irish, Welsh, and French, and the family-tree includes Sir Francis Drake, Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
, and Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin
Jean Bodin was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology....
, to whom she dedicated A Hornbook for Witches.
She attended Oakhurst School for Girls Cincinnatti, Hamilton College for Women
Hamilton College (Kentucky)
Hamilton College was a private women's college in Lexington, Kentucky, that closed in 1932.Hamilton was founded by banker James M. Hocker in 1869 as the Hocker Female College. In 1878, a donation by William Hamilton changed the name of the school to Hamilton College...
and Sayre College in Lexington
Lexington
-Places:In the United States:*Lexington, Kentucky, the largest 'Lexington'*Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldest 'Lexington'** Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War*Lexington, Alabama*Lexington, Georgia...
, Kentucky. She briefly worked as a Billy Rose
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
dancer in a revue at the Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Centennial Exposition in 1936-37. By then she was a published poet; her first poem for Weird Tales, "In the Shadows", appeared in the October 1935 issue. She was second only to Dorothy Quick in the number of poems she published with that magazine - nearly two dozen.
Drake's poems were published in many magazines including the Southern Literary Messenger
Southern Literary Messenger
The Southern Literary Messenger was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from 1834 until June 1864. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some variation and included poetry, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and historical notes...
, The Cornhill Magazine, Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
, Nature, Commonweal, The Arkham Sampler, Country Bard, Wings, Talaria, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The Poetry Chapbook, Silver Star, The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
and The Saturday Review. She was also a regular contributor to The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
. She received many awards from the Poetry Society of America
Poetry Society of America
The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists including Witter Bynner. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the have included such renowned writers as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Edna St. Vincent...
.
Drake lived in the Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
Tri-State
Tri-State
Tri-State may refer to:*Tri-State Airport, a public airport located in West Virginia, USA*Tri-state area, an area where three states meet at one point*Tri-State Christian Television, a network of several religious TV stations...
for fifteen years and from 1941-1951 was a music and theater critic for the Evansville Courier. She was a member of the Vanderburgh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
and a board member of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, for which she also edited the monthly newsletter The Baton.
Her "Ballad of the Jabberwock" won the Stephen Vincent Benet
Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By...
Ballad Contest in 1946 and appeared for the first time in print in the anthology Dark of the Moon
Dark of the Moon
Dark of the Moon may refer to:*Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a 2011 film, third in the Transformers series*Transformers: Dark of the Moon , a video game based on the 2011 film...
, edited by August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
, along with seven other fantastic poems by Drake.
Her first book of poetry A Hornbook for Witches
A Hornbook for Witches
A Hornbook for Witches: Poems of Fantasy is a collection of poems by Leah Bodine Drake. It was released in 1950 and was the author's first book and her only collection published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 553 copies of which 300 were given to the author, making this one of...
: Poems of Fantasy was published in 1950
1950 in literature
The year 1950 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Kazuo Shimada wins the "Mystery Writer Of Japan" award for his book Shakai-bu Kisha .*Jack Kerouac has his first novel published....
by Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
. The jacket material of the book gives her main interests apart from poetry as "collecting books illustrated by Dulac
Dulac
-People:* Catherine Dulac, a professor for molecular biology* Edmund Dulac, French book illustrator* Germaine Dulac, French film director and early film theorist* Henri Dulac, French mathematician* Joseph Dulac , botanist...
and Rackham
Rackham
Rackham is a French miniature and role-playing games production company founded in 1997 by Jean Bey, CEO and Creative Director....
, walking in the woods, Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
jazz, the works of C.S. Lewis and, as Vice-President of" Evansville's Animal Refuge, Inc, "rescuing dogs, cats and horses from what E.E. Cummings calls 'manunkind'."
She won the $100 Arthur Davison Ficke
Arthur Davison Ficke
Arthur Davison Ficke was an American poet and lawyer known for several books of poetry, including Sonnets of a Portrait-Painter and for his involvement in the literary hoax of Spectrism . He is also known for his relationship with Edna St...
memorial award for sonnets. Her "Precarious Ground" won the Poetry Society's $300 first prize for the "best poem" published in any magazine in the English-speaking world in 1952.
Drake authored two short stories for Weird Tales as well - "Whisper Water" (May 1953) and "Mop-Head" (Jan 1954).
Her second collection of poetry was This Tilting Dust (Francestown, NH: Golden Quill Press, 1955), which won her the Borestone Mountain Poetry Award
Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards
The Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards was an annual series of poetry anthologies first published in 1949. The poems were selected from those published in a given year in English-language magazines and books; in each volume, individual poems were designated as first, second, or third place in a...
. She won this award a second time later in her career. This Tilting Dust was a Finalist in the National Book Foundation
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation, founded in 1989, is an American nonprofit literary organization established "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." It achieves this through sponsoring the National Book Award, as well as the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American...
poetry awards for 1957.
Drake moved with her family to Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson, Kentucky
Henderson is a city in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River in the western part of the state. The population was 27,952 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Evansville Metropolitan Area often referred to as "Kentuckiana", although "Tri-State Area" or "Tri-State" are more...
in 1953, where she became a special feature writer for the Henderson Gleaner and Journal
Following her mother's death in 1957, she and her father moved to West Virginia, where for the last seven years of her life she lived in Parkersburg West Virginia, where she also worked on a newspaper. From 1957-1958 she worked as a poetry reviewer for The Atlantic Monthly.
Drake died of cancer, aged a month and a day short of her sixtieth birthday. At the time of her death she was working on a third collection of poetry which would have included 25 new poems together with a selection of poems from her second collection. This third collection was arranged posthumously published as Multiple Clay (1964).
She also collaborated on a poetry anthology, The Various Light: An Anthology of Modern Poetry in English with esoteric philosopher Dr Charles Muses
Charles Musès
Charles A Muses , was an esoteric philosopher who wrote articles and books under various pseudonyms . He founded the Lion Path, a shamanistic movement...
, which was published in Switzerland. (Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
: Aurora Press, 1964; 500 copies).
She was listed in Who's Who in Poetry and in the 1958 supplement to Who's Who in America.
Drake's poem "They Run Again"' was reprinted in Peter Haining
Peter Haining
Peter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
's anthology Weird Tales (Carroll and Graf, 1990).