Lucia Trent

Lucia Trent (December 19, 1897 – January 27, 1977) was an American poet. She founded National Poetry Day in 1947 in remembrance of her husband Ralph Cheyney. The holiday was celebrated on October 15 in the 20th century. By the time of Trent's death in 1977, Poetry Day was celebrated in all 50 states and 41 countries.

Early life Lucia Trent was born in Richmond, Virginia and William Peterfield Trent, a Columbia University English professor. Her family is descended from Dudley Digges (patriot) through his daughter, Judith Wormeley Digges. son of Edward Potts Cheyney, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, The couple met in New York while Cheyney was involved in the Greenwich Village poetry scene. They had three children, Alice, Trent, and Ralph. Cheyney and Trent taught at Pasadena Junior College. Cheyney was fired in 1940 for his activism with the American Peace Crusade, an organization that opposed the military draft. Lucia Trent resigned in solidarity with her husband. Following Cheyney's death, she remarried in 1942 to Ernest Hamilton Smith Glass, founder of the Texas Council for the Promotion of Poetry. She was president of the Western Poets Congress, lifetime member of the Poetry Society of Texas and Austin Poetry Society, vice president of the American Poetry League, and a member of the Poetry Society of America.

Cheyney and Trent operated a poetry writing correspondence course, the Cheyney-Trent Course in Poetry Technique, publishing four anthologies of student poetry between 1930 and 1932, entitled Pilgrims to Parnassus, Spring Choral, Voices in the Dawn and Early Harvest. The sixth and final Western Poets Congress was held in San Antonio, Texas in October 1941 with an estimated 600 attendees.

Trent served as advisory chairman of the National Poetry Day Committee. "The Motor Muse," The Sacramento Bee, December 15, 1923. "Flag of Light," The Daily Worker March 13, 1941 "Poet of the People," honoring Ralph Cheyney, Daily World, February 1, 1942. "To Gabriel Peri," Daily World, March 15, 1942. "A True Peace" with Ralph Cheyney, St. Cloud Times, May 25, 1942. "A Cry for Brotherhood," St. Cloud Times, May 25, 1942. "Act Before it Grows too Late," New Pittsburgh Courier, July 8, 1950. "Peace and Bread," The Register Guard, July 15, 1950. "Cycles of Dream," Southern Illinoisan, February 8, 1952. "Mine Cave In," New Pittsburgh Courier, November 22, 1952. "Machinery of Peace," New Pittsburgh Courier, January 10, 1953. "Impatient Man," Clarion-Ledger, July 10, 1960. "African Tragedy," New Pittsburgh Courier, February 11, 1961. "Bread of Brotherhood," Star-Herald, January 13, 1963. "Unfinished Business," The Texas Observer, December 27, 1963. "Upholders of the Status Quo," New Pittsburgh Courier, January 11, 1964. "Prayer for Dangerous Times," The Plainsman, May 20, 1965. "Mission to the Moon," The Times, January 26, 1966.

Poetry collections Dawn Stars H. Harrison, New York, 1926. Children of Fire & Shadow Robert Packard & Company, Chicago, 1929. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Dreamers' House Robert Packard & Company, Chicago, 1931. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Sierra Dreamers' House Poetry Publishers, Philadelphia, 1935. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Thank You, America! Suttonhouse, Los Angeles, 1937. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Lady Godiva and St. Satyr Haggland, 1941.

Editor Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, America Arraigned! Dean & Co., New York, 1928. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Pilgrims to Parnassus Bozart Press, Atlanta, 1930. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Spring Choral Contemporary Vision Press, 1930. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Voices in the Dawn: A Verse Anthology Studies Publication, 1931. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, Early Harvest Poetry Publishers, Philadelphia, 1932. Cheyney, Ralph, and Trent, Lucia, More Power to Poets: a Plea for More Poetry In Life, More Life In Poetry. H. Harrison, New York, 1934. Trent, Lucia, ed., Eros: An anthology of modern love poems H. Harrison, New York, 1939.

Politics Trent and Cheyney identified as "left wing socialists," supporting a wide variety of left-wing causes across their lifetimes. In 1930 Ralph Cheyney and Lucia Trent formed the Marcus Graham Defense Committee to fight against anarchist poet Marcus Graham's deportation to Canada. Both Cheyney and Trent were opposed to a bill introduced by Martin Dies Jr., the first chairman of the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities, which would have deported foreign born Communists in 1932, and they signed the John Reed Club's petition against it. Lucia Trent continued to oppose the Dies Committee, aligning herself with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties in 1943. In 1942 Lucia Trent supported military efforts in World War II by advocating to President Roosevelt the United States begin fighting in the second front in Europe. In 1946 Trent was a part of the Festus Coleman Defense Committee, and in 1951 she supported Willie McGee both African American men framed for assaulting white women.

Death Lucia Trent died on January 27, 1977, in Austin, Texas. Dr. Frances Clark Handler,

National Poetry Month was widely celebrated across the United States in October beginning in the 1950s. Prior to 1996 October was celebrated as national poetry month by the Academy of American Poets, National League of American Pen Women, National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and the California Federation of Chaparral Poets. In 1959 Academy of American Poets noted that over 100 poetry societies and 200 bookstores across the nation celebrated October as poetry month. Some celebrations in the 1980s and 1990s referred to October as World Poetry Month.