Name Evelyn Hunt Role Poet | Died 1997 | |
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Evelyn tooley hunt jabberwocky
Evelyn Tooley Hunt (1904–1997), also known as Tao-Li, was a poet who was famous for writing the poem "Taught Me Purple" which inspired the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker. She also was one of the first Americans to use the Haiku poem style.
This is an example of the poem:
My mother taught me purple Although she never wore it. Wash-gray was her circle, The tenement her orbit.
My mother taught me golden And held me up to see it, Above the broken molding, Beyond the filthy street.
My mother reached for beauty And for its lack she died, Who knew so much of duty She could not teach me pride.
She was born in Hamburg, New York and graduated from William Smith College. In 1961, she came out with her first poetry collection, Look Again, Adam that received the Sidney Lanier Memorial Award of 1963.