Skipwith Cannell
Humberston Skipwith Cannell, Jr. (1887-1957) was an American poet whose early career showed promise but ultimately did not fulfill expectations. Born in Philadelphia into a prominent family with Quaker roots, Cannell began publishing poetry in notable literary magazines, including Poetry and Others, and was encouraged by the famous Imagist poet Ezra Pound. His work was featured in Pound's influential collection, *Des Imagistes*, in 1914. However, after an initial burst of creativity, Cannell's published output dwindled, and his poetry largely remained unpublished for the remainder of his life.
Cannell's life was marked by personal and financial struggles, including a brief military service during World War I and multiple marriages. He experienced significant financial hardship following the stock market crash of 1932 and worked a series of low-paying jobs while also writing poetry under pseudonyms. Despite attempts by peers like William Carlos Williams to assist him in getting a book published, Cannell never completed a major collection. He passed away in 1957 from cancer and is buried at Arlington Cemetery, with his papers archived at the Library of Congress. Cannell's legacy reflects both the challenges faced by artists and the complexities of personal and professional aspirations in early 20th-century America.
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Skipwith Cannell
Poet
- Born: December 22, 1887
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: June 15, 1957
- Place of death: Fort Howard, Maryland
Biography
The poetic career of Skipwith Cannell, initially promising, ultimately became a great disappointment. In 1913, at the age of twenty-five, Cannell first published a poem in Poetry magazine and published additional poetry through 1916. Although he lived another forty years, the majority of the poetry he produced during the rest of his life remains unpublished.
Humberston Skipwith Cannell, Jr., was born on December 22, 1887, in Philadelphia, the third son of Susan Ridgway Cannell and Humberston Skipwith Cannell, a prominent merchant. A Quaker religious heritage through his mother shows up in some of Cannell’s work. He was educated first in Philadelphia and then at the Gymnase Scientifique in Lausanne, Switzerland. After briefly attending Lehigh University, Cannell entered the University of Virginia in 1906; he spent three years there, but did not graduate. After his father died around 1910, Cannell left college to live in France and began preparing himself for an artistic career. While in Paris in 1913, he met and married his first wife, Kathleen Eaton. Significantly for his future direction, Cannell also met Ezra Pound, the Imagist poet and editor.
While on a visit to London in 1913, Cannell met again with Pound at his Kensington home; there Pound encouraged Cannell to write poetry in the Imagist style and offered to help place the poems. Cannell’s work immediately began to be published in various magazines. More importantly, Cannell was also included in Pound’s foundational collection Des Imagistes (1914). When World War I began, the Cannells sailed back to America in 1914. Cannell continued to be published through 1916, particularly in Others, a new poetry journal featuring work by William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens. However, his poetic publishing then ended.
Cannell entered the army in 1917, apparently already separated from his wife (they divorced in 1921), and returned to France to serve in military intelligence. In 1921, Cannell married Marie Juliette Del Grange, whom he had met in Paris in 1918. Turning away from poetry for a time, he tried beekeeping and then opened a shop in the resort town of Beaulieu. However, he was not successful, and as his wife was expecting their second child, the family moved to Cape May, New Jersey. Cannell went through a series of poorly paid, menial jobs and eventually lived off his wealthy family. He received an inheritance when his mother died but lost it in the stock market in 1932. His experience of poverty and commitment to the working class became the next themes of his (unpublished) poetry, written under the pseudonyms of David Ruth and Jonathan Small. Eventually Cannell secured a well-paid job in the federal bureaucracy and settled in the District of Columbia.
Although Williams attempted to help Cannell publish a book- length poem, this project failed to materialize. Cannell divorced his second wife and married Catherine Pettigrew in 1941; they had met at a workers’ meeting in Idaho and eventually had five children together. He wrote no poetry in the 1940’s; in the 1950’s, dying of cancer, Cannell attempted another book- length poem but did not finish it. Cannell died in a hospital in Fort Howard, Maryland, on June 15, 1957, and was buried at Arlington Cemetery. His papers and correspondence are collected at the Library of Congress.