Elkanah East Taylor
About the Poet
Elkanah East was born in Virginia in 1888, and as a child, she contributed poetry and stories to magazines. She attended Maury High School and in 1906 entered Sweet Briar College for women as part of the first freshman class. She graduated from Sweet Briar and continued her studies at the College of William and Mary where she graduated in 1919. She was married to fellow William and Mary graduate Edwin Jordan Taylor of Hampton, VA, and they had a son, William East Taylor. Elkanah East Taylor lived in Driver, Nansemond County, Virginia for 30 years.
She published five books of poetry, Whisperings and Other Poems (1919), Candles on the Sill (1927) published by James T White and Co, Dust and Flame (1923), Pen-Points (1928) and A Spray of Mistletoe (1931).
Elkanah was a member of many poetry organizations, and in 1925 she founded the Will-o’-the-Wisp magazine of verse. In 1926, The Editor of the Literary Lantern said that the Will-o’-the-Wisp might shortly be one of the literary journals that “died to make verse free.”
Elkanah East Taylor died a widow in Norfolk, VA at the age of 57 on August 7, 1945. Taylor is buried at the Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, VA.
From Wikipedia
Region
Hampton Roads
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Norfolk, Virginia
Gender
Female
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1888-1945
Published Works or Performances
- Whisperings and Other Poems. Burke & Gregory Inc., 1919.
- Candles on the Sill. James T White and Co., 1927.
- Dust and Flame. The Stratford Company, 1923.
- Pen-Points. Artcraft Corp.,1928.
- A Spray of Mistletoe,1931.
Elkanah East Taylor