Eunice Tietjens
Eunice Tietjens was an American poet and writer, born Eunice Strong Hammond on July 29, 1884, in Chicago. She experienced a shift in her education and upbringing after her father's death, leading her family to Europe, where she studied in several countries and graduated from the Froebel Kindergarten Institute in Germany. Although she did not attain a university degree, her multicultural experiences greatly influenced her literary career. Tietjens married composer Paul Tietjens in 1904, but the couple divorced in 1910; their personal struggles were mirrored in her writing.
Her pivotal connection with Harriet Monroe, the founder of *Poetry: A Magazine of Verse*, led her to a significant editorial role that further immersed her in the Chicago Renaissance literary movement. Tietjens's writing was characterized by humanistic themes and innovation in form, as seen in her first book, *Profiles from China*, which showcased her experiments with free verse. Throughout her life, she published poetry, novels, children's books, and even coauthored a play, highlighting her versatility as a writer. Tietjens's literary contributions and her involvement in the cultural revival of her time secured her legacy among notable Chicago Renaissance figures until her death on September 6, 1944.
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Eunice Tietjens
Poet
- Born: July 29, 1884
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: September 6, 1944
- Place of death: Chicago, Illinois
Biography
Eunice Tietjens was born Eunice Strong Hammond in Chicago on July 29, 1884, the eldest of four children born to William Andrew and Idea Louise Strong Hammond. She attended public school until the age of thirteen when her father died and her mother took the family to Europe. Although she did not earn a university degree, she studied in France, Germany, and Switzerland, and she graduated from the Froebel Kindergarten Institute in Dresden, Germany. This early exposure to various cultures would influence her poetry and her desire to travel; she continued to travel extensively throughout her lifetime. She married composer Paul Tietjens in 1904 and they had two daughters, one of whom died at the age of four, before divorcing in 1910.
When she was twenty-seven, Tietjens met the woman who was to change her life, Harriet Monroe, founder of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. Tietjens went to work for Monroe in 1913, serving in various editorial positions, and in 1916 was offered the position of associate editor of the magazine, which she accepted and held until shortly before her death. Now living in Chicago, Tietjens became friends with such literary figures as poet Edgar Lee Masters, who encouraged her to write creatively. Between those friendships, her editorial work, and her creative work published in Poetry, Tietjens came to be part of the Chicago Renaissance, a group of writers invested in reawakening interest in theater and literature.
A trip to China in 1916 greatly affected Tietjens’s writing. Her first book, Profiles from China: Sketches in Free Verse of People and Things Seen in the Interior (1917), shows her experimenting with free verse and a shortened poetic form similar to haiku. A second volume, Body and Raiment (1919), soon followed. In 1920, she married playwright and director Cloyd Head. The couple had a son, Marshall, and a daughter who died at birth. Continuing to write, Teitjens published a novel; two additional collections of poetry; five children’s books, including one coauthored with her daughter Janice; a book on China, coauthored with her sister Louise; and an autobiography. She also coauthored a play with her husband. Tietjens died on September 6, 1944. Although Tietjens published in a wide variety of genres, it is her beautiful, perceptive, carefully phrased, humanistic verse that has earned her a place among the Chicago Renaissance writers.