Isabella Gardner

Isabella Gardner (September 7, 1915 – July 7, 1981) was an American poet and actress. She worked as an associate editor for Poetry from 1951 through 1955 alongside Ken Shapiro. She is the namesake of the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award.

Early life and education

Gardner was born in Newton, Massachusetts on September 7, 1915. She was raised in Boston and had 5 brothers and sisters. Gardner was named for her great-aunt Isabella Stewart Gardner, an art collector and philanthropist. She was also the cousin of the poet Robert Lowell.

In 1931, Gardner attended the Foxcroft School in Virginia. Originally interested in theater, Gardner studied at the Leighton Rollins School of Acting and in 1937, enrolled in the Embassy School of Acting in London. She was later encouraged by the poet Oscar Williams to focus on her own poetry, eventually having poems published in Poetry. In 1951, Gardner started as an associate editor at Poetry, working under the poet Karl Shapiro. Shapiro helped introduce Gardner to a larger audience, including the poet Edith Sitwell, who described Gardner as "a most talented young woman poet".

Gardner published her first collection of poems, Birthdays from the Ocean, in 1955. The book was a critical success and a runner-up for the National Book Award for Poetry. In 1954, Gardner became a sponsor for the poet Gregory Corso and briefly provided him with financial support. In her role as associate editor, she liked his poems but was unable to get them published in Poetry under Shapiro.

Gardner married poet Allen Tate in August 1959. Unlike Corso, Tate was described as "viscerally anti-Beat" by Marian Janssen in her biography of Isabella Gardner. and Gardner went to live in the Hotel Chelsea. That Was Then was nominated for an American Book Award.

Death and legacy

Gardner died in Manhattan on July 7, 1981.

Works

Birthdays from the Ocean (1955) The Looking Glass (1961) West of Childhood (1965) That Was Then: New and Selected Poems (1980)