Nathalia Crane
Encyclopedia
Nathalia Clara Ruth Crane (11 August 1913 - 22 October 1998) was a poet and novelist who became famous as a child prodigy after the publication of her first book of poetry at age 10. Her poetry was first published in The New York Sun when she was only 9 years old, the paper unaware that she was a child. She later became a professor of English at San Diego State University
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After the publication of her second volume of poetry poet Edwin Markham
implied that the publications were probably a hoax, stating "It seems impossible to me that a girl so immature could have written these poems. They are beyond the powers of a girl of twelve. The sophisticated viewpoint of sex ... knowledge of history and archeology found in these pages place them beyond the reach of any juvenile mind."
Critic Louis Untermeyer
was an early promoter of Crane's work and stated "some of the critics explained the work by insisting that the child was some sort of medium, an instrument unaware of what was played upon it; others, considering the book a hoax, scorned the fact that any child could have written verses so smooth in execution and so remarkable in spiritual overtones" and that "The appeal of such lines is not that they have been written by a child but by a poet."
She was married first to Vete George Black (d. 1968) and later to Peter O'Reilly, who survived her.
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
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After the publication of her second volume of poetry poet Edwin Markham
Edwin Markham
Charles Edwin Anson Markham was an American poet. From 1923 to 1931 he was Poet Laureate of Oregon.-Life:Edwin Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon and was the youngest of 10 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth...
implied that the publications were probably a hoax, stating "It seems impossible to me that a girl so immature could have written these poems. They are beyond the powers of a girl of twelve. The sophisticated viewpoint of sex ... knowledge of history and archeology found in these pages place them beyond the reach of any juvenile mind."
Critic Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961.-Life and career:...
was an early promoter of Crane's work and stated "some of the critics explained the work by insisting that the child was some sort of medium, an instrument unaware of what was played upon it; others, considering the book a hoax, scorned the fact that any child could have written verses so smooth in execution and so remarkable in spiritual overtones" and that "The appeal of such lines is not that they have been written by a child but by a poet."
She was married first to Vete George Black (d. 1968) and later to Peter O'Reilly, who survived her.
External links
- "Markham v. Prodigy" TIMETimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine (23 November 1925) - The Weird Review: Child Fantasists
- Vintage Juvenile Fantasies