Anna Hempstead Branch

Anna Hempstead Branch (1875–1937) was an American poet known for her sonnets and religious poetry. Her work explores Christian mysticism and spiritual themes using formal verse. Biography ↓More ↓

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Sonnets from a Lock Box I

How nonchalantly I spend with little thrift His proud sparse earnings which were the frugal pay Of a man’s stout will and honorable day. What insolent spending of that sturdy gift! When I reflect on him he seems like one Who on a bleak hill set a lonely pine. He saw the North Star in its branches shine. His honest valors are by me undone. Why I should own his box I cannot see. For his scant legacy I am unfit. Yet since he’s in the yard I have his key, And somehow I am master over it. I am like one who decks the Holy Tree With tinsel shapes; then casts it in the pit.

Anna Hempstead Branch

Sonnets from a Lock Box V

In such a cell with compass and with scale Some quaint geographer might subtly trap The oceans and the earth into a map, Painting the sea and sky with colors pale, Embellished well with many a quaint design, The elephant, the bullock and the ape, The apple, the corn, the winepress and the grape, The battle axe, the frigate and the mine. Lo, now, we see the tabulated scheme Of all the earth; its diagram of story; But not its mysteries of pain and dream, Its love, its pride, its passion and its glory. So Fortunes lie on paper and make no sound, But with its seasons still the earth turns round.

Biography

Anna Hempstead Branch was an American poet born in 1875 and died in 1937. She published several poetry collections, including 'The Heart of the Road' (1901), 'The Shoes That Danced' (1906), 'Rose of the Wind' (1910), and 'Sonnets from a Lock Box' (1929). Her poetry employs traditional forms, especially the sonnet, and centers on religious and spiritual subjects. Branch frequently wrote about divine love, angels, and the search for spiritual truth, using a mystical and contemplative voice. Her style is characterized by precise imagery and a meditative, lyrical quality. She was a member of the Poetry Society of America and contributed to its activities. Branch was also involved with Christodora House, a settlement house in New York City. Her career spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of transition in American poetry. Her sonnets are studied for their formal technique and religious themes.

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