Gladys Cromwell

Gravesite of Gladys Cromwell (1885-1919). Photo by Decal. Courtesy Find a Grave.

Gladys Cromwell (1885-1919) was an American poet and heiress.

Life

Cromwell was born into a socially prominent Manhattan, New York City, family which traced its lineage back to Oliver Cromwell. Her father was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company. When he died, he left her and her siblings a fortune. She and her twin sister Dorothea purchased an apartment on Park Avenue.

Gladys Cromwell published poems in Poetry magazine, and also put out a collection, The Gates of Utterance, in 1915.

In 1918, during World War I, the twins volunteered with the Red Cross and performed canteen work close to the front in Châlons-sur-Marne and Verdun. On the ship taking them back to America the following year, both sisters exhibited nervous behavior that fit the symptoms of what is now understood as PTSD. They committed double suicide by jumping from the ship and drowning in the Atlantic.

Recognition

Gladys and Dorothea Cromwell were both awarded the Croix de Guerre.

A posthumous collection of Gladys Cromwell's Poems received the Poetry Society of America prize in 1920.

Publications

• The Gates of Utterance, and other poems. Boston: Sherman, French, 1915.
• The Scientist. New York: 1916.
• Poems (with introduction by Padraic Colum). New York: Macmillan, 1919.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

Poems by Gladys Cromwell

• Star Song

See also

• List of U.S. poets

External links

Poems

• 2 sonnets by Cromwell: "Winter Poetry," "Autumn"
• "Autumn Communion"
• Gladys Cromwell in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1921-1922: "The Fugitive," "The Crowning Gift," "Folded Power," "The Mould," "Autumn Communion," "Star Song"