Grace Noll Crowell

I hadn't heard of Grace Noll Crowell until I came across one or two of her poems in old copies of Good Housekeeping magazine. To be honest, I hesitated before I put them on my blog, I thought that perhaps they were too sentimental to be good, that the modern homemaker might think them corny and unrealistic. However, I found the poetry to be quite uplifting, and it had a gentle quality that really spoke to me. And, isn't that meant to be the mark of good poetry? Words which speak to the heart of the reader, words that can speak to the soul? I read an awful lot of early twentieth century literature by women writers, it's of good quality, and is more engaged in discussing the choices women face than much of contemporary women's literature. But above all, this literature is honest, funny and intelligent without being cynical...and although I can read the scenes of trauma and degradation portrayed in modern books with confidence and understanding, I cannot abide the tone of cynicism so often employed by much of what makes The Booker shortlist! Anyway, I'm rambling...more to the point I'm being a bit "Daily Mail" about the whole subject, so I'll publish the Crowell poems and leave it up to you to decide whether you like them as much as I do! The second poem was found when I was trawling through the internet looking for more poems and found one on a homemaking blog! So hat tip to both Nesting Cottage and Morning Ramble who both appreciate Grace Noll Crowell's poetry too!

I Have Found Such Joy in Simple Things

I have found such joy in simple things;

A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread

A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,

The shelter of a roof above my head,

And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,

Where yellow sunlight glimmers through a door.

I have found such joy in things that fill

My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,

A potted plant upon my window sill,

A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;

A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,

And books I long have loved beside me there.

Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might

Tell every woman who goes seeking far

For some elusive, feverish delight,

That very close to home the great joys are:

The elemental things--old as the race,

Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.


A Prayer for Womanhood
~Grace Noll Crowell~
1934

God, give each true good woman
Her own small house to keep,
No heart should ache with longing,
No hurt should go too deep.....
Grant her age-old desire:
A house to love and sweep.
Give her a man beside her,
A kind man, and a true,
And let them work together
And love, a lifetime through,
And let her mother children
As gentle women do.
Give her a shelf for dishes,
And a shining box for bread,
A white cloth for her table,
And a white spread for her bed,
A shaded lamp at nightfall,
And a row of books much read.
God, let her work with laughter,
And let her rest with sleep.
No life can truly offer
A peace more sure and deep....
God, give each true woman
Her own small house to keep

Oh, here and here are the links to the poetry already published on my blog.