星野 文子

This paper will examine the early career of American female poet Ina Donna Coolbrith from the perspective of social expectations and gender. Coolbrith was a successful poet. She was crowned as the first Poet Laureate of California in June 1915. She started publishing poetry as a teenager, and was a pioneer of the “frontier” period of Californian Literature. When the literary magazine Overland Monthly was founded in 1868, Coolbrith, Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard were known as the “Golden Gate Trinity.” Her peers included poets and writers such as Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, and Joaquin Miller; they were all young and seeking national recognition. Despite her success, being a woman made developing her career difficult compared to male writers. In order to understand her unique situation, this paper will examine her early poems and personal correspondence. It will explore her social circumstances, the gender limitations she faced, and her personal feelings about her career.