Grace Walcott Hazard Conkling (February 7, 1878 – November 15, 1958) was an American author, born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, educated at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 and abroad. In 1914, she went to Smith to teach English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. Her collected volumes of verse

Verse (poetry)

A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....

 included:

• Afternoons of April (1915)
• Wilderness Songs (1920)

She attracted wide attention as the teacher of her little daughter, Hilda Conkling

Hilda Conkling

Hilda Conkling was an American poet. She was the daughter of Grace Hazard Conkling, a poet in her own right and Assistant Professor of English at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. Hilda was born in New York state...

, whose Poems by a Little Girl (1920) displayed great ability at an early age. Grace copied down her daughter's poems as they were spoken, which is the only record that exists of Hilda's work.

Sources

• Smith College Archives