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\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nMartha Linsley Spencer was a Connecticut poet, literary editor, and arts organizer who played a central role in nurturing the state\u2019s poetry community during the first half of the twentieth century. Best known as editor of the Hartford Times<\/em> poetry column and as a leader of the Hartford Poetry Club, Spencer devoted much of her career to amplifying the voices of other poets while quietly producing a substantial body of her own work.<\/p>\n Martha Linsley Spencer was born on October 28, 1875 in Lebanon, Connecticut to Francis Spencer and Esther Ann Linsley in the home owned by her grandfather George Dyer. The home previously belonged to Jonathan Trumbull Jr., son of \u201cBrother Jonathan\u201d Trumbull Sr., both of whom served as governors of Connecticut. She had one sister, Esther, and four brothers: Francis, George, B. Halsey, and Charles.<\/p>\n Spencer lived in the Dyer home until\u00a0her grandparents\u00a0moved to\u00a0Deep River, where she\u00a0attended high school. She later\u00a0graduated from\u00a0Vermont Academy\u00a0and Emerson School of Oratory in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied\u00a0rhetoric and dramatic teaching. This training\u00a0carried her into work as\u00a0dramatic\u00a0instructor at the House of\u00a0the\u00a0Good Shepherd\u00a0and\u00a0dramatic arts\u00a0teacher\u00a0at West Middle School, Noah Webster School, and Hall High School.\u00a0Spencer also enjoyed\u00a0what was\u00a0then called\u00a0\u201cplatform\u00a0work\u201d\u2014putting on\u00a0events,\u00a0performances, and ceremonies\u00a0such as\u00a0graduations.\u00a0She never married and devoted her adult life to teaching, editing, and literary work.\u00a0For many years, she lived at 73 Evergreen\u00a0Avenue\u00a0in Hartford, Connecticut.<\/p>\n According to a tribute by Margaret Thomas Johnston, Spencer’s \u201cprofound knowledge\u201d of rhetoric and experience as a poet prepared her for her work as literary editor of the Hartford Times<\/em>\u2019 poetry column titled \u201cThe Poet\u2019s Corner,” a post she held for 25 years. The Poet’s Corner was initially an outlet for poetry by members of the Hartford Poetry Club but soon began featuring poets from \u201cevery state in the union,\u201d from amateurs to the renowned. As editor, Spencer read each work from the piles of poetry that arrived at her desk \u201cwith evaluating attention\u201d and selected those pieces that would be published in the column. Spencer was conscientious and considerate of the poets who sent submissions, offering editorial advice, critique, and praise\u2014both to encourage those who were not chosen and to celebrate those who were.<\/p>\n Spencer\u00a0also\u00a0spent over three decades\u00a0as\u00a0a devoted member, chairperson, and President of the Hartford Poetry Club,\u00a0founded in 1921.\u00a0Spencer corresponded with and helped bring poets to Connecticut to\u00a0lecture\u00a0and\u00a0instill a love of poetry in others.\u00a0The\u00a0Club\u00a0fundraised to save the Mark Twain House and Memorial and\u00a0procured\u00a0autographed editions of poetry by Connecticut poets.\u00a0Members also attended lectures and studied with Robert Hillyer, Assistant Professor of English at Trinity College.<\/p>\n Spencer\u2019s efforts\u00a0and\u00a0communications\u00a0brought\u00a0such poets as\u00a0Edna St. Vincent Millay, W.B. Yeats,\u00a0and Robert\u00a0Frost\u00a0to Connecticut\u00a0for public events.\u00a0Spencer helped sponsor the creation of an annual poetry day\u00a0in Connecticut,\u00a0celebrated\u00a0October 15,\u00a0and\u00a0was honored at the Club’s 30th anniversary meeting on April 18, 1951.\u00a0The Poetry Club\u00a0voted to disband on June 10, 1953 \u201cwith dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n As she received, edited, and critiqued poetry from local aspirants, Spencer was a prolific poet herself, penning thousands of free-verse works with a variety of aliases, such as her own initials \u201cM.L.S.,\u201d or reversed \u201cS.L.M.\u201d However, \u201cAbbie Jones\u201d was the pen name that \u201cheld the essence of her poetry,\u201d according to Johnston.<\/p>\n Spencer\u2019s\u00a0poems\u00a0spanned many subjects\u2014seasons\u00a0and months\u00a0(especially Christmas),\u00a0flowers and trees,\u00a0remembrances\u00a0for fellow\u00a0poets and family members,\u00a0and\u00a0the Second World War.\u00a0She was inspired\u00a0through\u00a0observations of everyday life, current events,\u00a0and the things around her that invoked feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cPastel in Gray\u201d describes a cloudy sky as \u201csofter than mother-of-pearl\u201d and the Traveler\u2019s Tower in Hartford \u201cpricked with golden-lighted windows.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAfter School\u201d details a conversation between two girls\u2014one\u00a0asking about the other\u2019s culture and language.\u00a0Two poems on World War II\u00a0\u201cAmerica to Holland\u201d and \u201cThe Hour\u201d were, respectively, honored by Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands and Lord Halifax of England.<\/p>\n Spencer did not, however,\u00a0just paint in words. She enjoyed the physical medium, too,\u00a0especially watercolors and pastels, and often painted small scenes to\u00a0accompany\u00a0her poems.<\/p>\n In 1932 the\u00a0Troubadour<\/em>, a San Diego-based poetry magazine, published an issue devoted to Connecticut poets called “A Connecticut Number” in which Spencer\u2019s featured poem \u201cScoria\u201d won the free verse award. Her short story \u201cNutmegs are Wooden,\u201d which tells the story of how Connecticut became the Nutmeg State, was published in Yankee Magazine<\/em>\u00a0in April 1947.<\/p>\n For many years, Spencer\u2019s friends and family tried to convince her to publish her poems, but she was engaged with supporting other aspirants through her column and the Club. Additionally, as Johnston reports, \u201cshe could not decide what to choose from literally \u2018one thousand poems.\u2019\u201d When the Poetry Club voted to disband in 1953, its last official act was to approve funding for the publication of Spencer\u2019s poems.<\/p>\n Martha Linsley Spencer passed away on July 17, 1954. Later that year, her only book of poetry, Remembered Years: Collected Poems<\/em>, was published posthumously in a limited edition of 500 copies. The volume features ten sections of poems accompanied by illustrations Spencer herself designed, offering a representative selection of her work.<\/p>\n Also in 1954, Spencer\u2019s library of 729 volumes and her personal papers were donated to Trinity College by her sister,\u00a0in accordance with\u00a0Spencer\u2019s wishes. Today, her legacy endures through these materials, which remain available to researchers and the public at Trinity College\u2019s Watkinson Library.<\/p>\n As Margaret Thompson Johnston observed, \u201cWho but the poet Martha Linsley Spencer could have found such beauty from only the windows of an apartment, and such contentment within its walls that harbored her ancestral heirlooms?\u201d<\/p>\n Martha Linsley Spencer – Biographical and Critical Sources<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Poet, Editor, and Advocate for Connecticut Poetry by Amanda M.B. Matava Martha Linsley Spencer was a Connecticut poet, literary editor, and arts organizer who played a central role in nurturing the state\u2019s poetry community during the first half of the twentieth century. Best known as editor of the Hartford Times poetry column and as a … Continue reading Martha\u00a0Linsley Spencer (1875-1954)<\/span> Early Life and Education in Connecticut<\/h5>\n
Editor\u00a0of the Hartford Times<\/em> Poetry Column<\/h5>\n
Poetry and Artistic Work<\/h5>\n
Later\u00a0Recognition and Legacy<\/h5>\n
Anthology Selections<\/h5>\n