Adams, Léonie

Léonie Adams, in full Léonie Fuller Adams, (born December 9, 1899, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died June 27, 1988, New Milford, Connecticut), American poet and educator whose verse interprets emotions and nature with an almost mystical vision.

After graduating from Barnard College (A.B., 1922), Adams became editor of The Measure, a literary publication, in 1924. She was persuaded to publish a volume of poetry, Those Not Elect, in 1925. While living in France from 1928 to 1930, Adams published High Falcon & Other Poems (1929). She began to teach the writing of poetry in New York City and in 1932 edited Lyrics of François Villon. She published rarely after 1933 but lectured at various American colleges and universities over the years and served as poetry consultant for the Library of Congress (now poet laureate consultant in poetry) from 1948 to 1949. Adams won a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant in Literature (1949) and received various poetry awards thereafter. Poems, a Selection (1954) won the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1955.