Frances Cornford
Frances Cornford, born Frances Crofts Darwin on March 30, 1886, in Cambridge, England, was a notable poet and a member of the distinguished Darwin and Wordsworth families. The granddaughter of Charles Darwin, she was encouraged to pursue writing from a young age, ultimately publishing her first poetry collection, *Poems*, in 1910. Cornford is often associated with the Georgian poetry movement, having written in a style marked by unpretentiousness and emotional sincerity, with themes frequently centered around her Cambridge surroundings and the changing seasons. Her literary career spanned half a century, during which she interacted with prominent figures of her time, including T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.
Cornford's personal life was intertwined with her artistic pursuits; she married Francis D. Cornford, a renowned classical scholar, and they raised five children in a vibrant intellectual environment. Her poetry is characterized by its short verse forms, and she also gained recognition for her translations in the 1940s. Her final collection, *On a Calm Shore*, was published in 1960, shortly before her death on August 19 of that year. Through her work, Frances Cornford contributed significantly to the literary landscape of her era, leaving a lasting impact on both poetry and her family's artistic legacy.
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Frances Cornford
Poet
- Born: March 30, 1886
- Birthplace: Cambridge, England
- Died: August 19, 1960
Biography
Frances Crofts Darwin, a granddaughter of Charles Darwin, was born on March 30, 1886, in Cambridge, England. Her father, Sir Francis Darwin, was a reader in botany at Cambridge University and her mother, Ellen Wordsworth Crofts, was a great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth and a lecturer at Newnham, one of the first women’s colleges at Cambridge. Somewhat surprisingly, Cornford was privately educated and did not attend the university, although her family’s links with members of an educated Cambridge circle provided her with numerous opportunities for cultural development. For example, while assisting in a production of John Milton’s Comus at Christ’s College in the summer of 1908, she became romantically involved with the lead actor, Francis D. Cornford, a fellow of Trinity College. Twelve years older than Frances Darwin, Francis Cornford later became professor of ancient philosophy at the university and has been called one of the great classical scholars of his time. The couple married in 1909, setting up housekeeping in Cambridge, and their lively intellectual life eventually included their five children.
Cornford had been encouraged by her family to write ever since she was a young girl, and she especially enjoyed writing poetry. She published her first book, Poems, in 1910, which included some works that she had written when she was sixteen years old, such as “Autumn Morning in Cambridge.” Even this early poem demonstrates some of the verse features that dominate her work: Cambridge as setting, autumn as season, and short verse, with rhymed stanzas, as form. Essentially a Georgian poet, although her career lasted half a century, Cornford has been associated with the modernist generation. T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were her contemporaries, and both she and Virginia Woolf were close friends of the Cambridge poet Rupert Brooke. Another of Cornford’s early poems, “Youth,” describes Brooke as Cornford saw him around 1907, eight years before his untimely death in World War I. The Cornfords named their first son, Rupert John Cornford, in Brooke’s memory, and by the early 1930’s, Rupert John Cornford, too, demonstrated talent in poetry and politics. Collections of his poetry were published as early as 1938, two years after his tragic death in the Spanish Civil War, and letters between Frances Cornford and her eldest son were included in a 1966 edition of Rupert John Cornford’s work.
Frances Cornford’s poetry has been noted for its unpretentious style, and she has been praised for her ability to express her thoughts and feelings in short verse forms. In the 1940’s, Cornford collaborated on several translations, and she received high praise for those works as well. Her final volume of seventy-two poems, On a Calm Shore, was published in 1960 and was illustrated by her son, Christopher. Cornford died on August 19 of that same year.