Photo by William Pelham

Josephine Jacobsen

On August 19, 1908, Josephine Jacobsen was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. A poet, short story writer, and critic, she was educated by private tutors at Roland Park Country school and graduated in 1926.

She served as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress from 1971 to 1973 and as honorary consultant in American letters from 1973 to 1979. Between 1978 and 1979, she was Vice President of The Poetry Society of America. She was a member of both the literature panel for the National Endowment of the Arts and of the poetry committee of Folger Library from 1979 to 1983.

Jacobsen is the author of numerous collections of poetry, among them In the Crevice of Time: New and Collected Poems (John Hopkins University Press, 1995), The Chinese Insomniacs: New Poems (1981), The Shade-Seller: New and Selected Poems (1974), The Animal Inside (1966), The Human Climate: New Poems (1953), and Let Each Man Remember (1940).

Her awards and honors include an Academy of American Poets fellowship; a Doctor of Humane Letters from Goucher College, The College of Notre Dame in Maryland, Townson State University, and Johns Hopkins University; and the Shelley Memorial Award for lifetime service to literature, among other honors. She was inducted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1994.

Josephine Jacobson died July 9, 2003.