About Adelaide Crapsey
Adelaide Crapsey (September 9, 1878 – October 8, 1914) was an American poet. She was the daughter of Adelaide T. Crapsey and Episcopal priest Algernon Sidney Crapsey. The family moved from New York to Rochester, where she grew up. Adelaide enrolled at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1897. She spent four very active years at Vassar. For three years, she was the class poet. She was the editor of the Vassarion and captained the basketball team. She was a member of the debate club and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa sorority. She played Lucy the maid in the play The Rivals. Adelaide Crapsey roomed with Jean Webster, who would continue to be her best friend and literary comrade for the rest of her life. Adelaide's biographer, Karen Alkalay-Gut, described her life as constantly hampered by illness, grief, and impecunity. The gap between what she had planned to do and what she actually accomplished was embarrassing to her. The five-line poetic form she created reflects her life. The first four lines build hope to be followed by a stress line as an abbreviated conclusion.Browse all poems and texts published on Adelaide Crapsey
