Bio: Sarah Teasdale

Sarah wrote love poems. She was born in 1884, in St-Louis and died in 1933, in New York, where she committed suicide.  When she married Ernest Filsinger, her life changed.  So did her poetry.  Her first thoughts of suicide were in 1913 when a relationship she'd counted on failed to materialize.  Later, analysts credit these thoughts to her lack of self-worth.  Since Sarah placed high value on pleasing her father, judging herself as a reflection of him.  When a man rejected her, her self-esteem plummeted.  She developed illness as a response to stress and enervating experiences.  Sarah had little or no experience with love affairs, or with men, and this is reflected in the romantic nature of her poetry.

One of her poems

Why am I crying after love
With youth, a singing voice and eyes
To take earth's wonder with surprise?
Why have I put off my pride,
Why am I unsatisfied,
I for whom the pensive night
Binds her cloudy hair with light,
I for whom all beauty burns
Like incense in a million urns?
Oh, beauty, are you not enough?
Why am I crying after love?

Sarah Teasdale

~Paul~