Location
Karle Wilson Baker
Years: 1878–1960 | Role: Poet | County: Nacogdoches
Topics
Description
Based in Nacogdoches, Baker was an esteemed figure in Texas literature, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (1931) and appointed as the state’s Poet Laureate (1938-39). She wrote historical novels, including Family Style (1937) and Star of the Wilderness (1942), children’s books, such as The Garden of Plynk (1920) and The Old Tree Speaks (1925), and essays and short fiction, including pieces in the Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s. She is perhaps best known for her poetry, much of which has a natural theme. Appearing in the volume Blue Smoke (1919), “I have a Need of Silence” portrays the natural world as a cure for the noise of human society, while “Good Company” describes a quiet kinship and “parley” with nature:
The seven sister-poplars who go softly in a line;
And I think my heart is whiter for its parley with a star
That trembled out at nightfall and hung above the pine.
Woke his happy mate within me to an answer free and fine;
And a sudden angel beckoned from a column of blue smoke —
Lord, who am I that they should stoop — these holy folk of thine?
Location Notes
The Texas Historical Commission has recognized Baker with a marker on the Stephen F. Austin State University, where she taught for a decade and her papers are held. The marker is found at 1936 North Street, in Nacogdoches.