Margaret Danner

Margaret Esse Danner was born in Pryorsburg, Kentucky on January 12, 1915. Her talent was revealed early on when she won first prize in an eighth-grade competition for her poem “The Violin.” Her parents Caleb and Naomi

Painted Lady, The

by Margaret Danner (1915–84)

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15

The Painted Lady is a small African

Butterfly gayly toned deep tan and peach

That seems as tremulous and delicately sheer

As the objects I treasure, yet this cosmopolitan

Can cross the sea at the icy time of year

In the trail of the big boats, to France.

Mischance is as wide and grey as the lake here
In Chicago. Is there strength enough in my
Peach paper rose or lavender sea-laced fan?

Click here for complete poem

Poets Book of Days

January 12

Edith Emma Cooper born, 1862. She collaborated with her aunt, Katherine Bradley, to write poems under the pseudonym "Michael Field".

View Calendar of Days

Poetry Trivia

Question:

What W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) poem provided the title for Chinua Achebe's (b. 1930) seminal novel of Nigeria?

Answer

The book Things Fall Apart: A Novel found its title in "The Second Coming." ("Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. . .")

Previous Trivia Questions

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