M. A. B. Evans

Mary Anna Buck Evans (January 27, 1857 – January 6, 1934), usually published under the name M. A. B. Evans, was an American poet.

M. A. B. Evans
A young white woman with dark hair and eyes, wearing a dark dress with a scooped neckline
M. A. B. Evans, from an 1895 publication
Born
Mary Anna Buck

January 27, 1857
Lockport, New York
DiedJanuary 6, 1934
Lockport, New York
OccupationPoet

Early life and education

Mary Anna Buck was born in Lockport, New York, the daughter of John Hildreth Buck and Harriet M. Fletcher Buck. Her father was mayor of Lockport.[1] She graduated from Lockport Academy in 1874.[2][3] Later in life, she was president of the Lockport High School Alumni Association,[4] and annually presented a volume of Shakespeare's works to a member of the school's graduating class, in her husband's memory.[5]

Career

Evans wrote poetry and published several collections of verse,[3][6] sometimes based on her travels in Europe.[7] Her work appeared often in periodicals, including The Book-lover's Almanac[8] and Vogue.[9] She gave poetry readings at the annual American Music Festival when it was held in Rockport in 1918[10] and 1920.[11] She gave lectures on French and English history, and translated French fiction.[3]

Reviews of Evans's work were mixed.[12] "Some of the rhymes gallop along at a rather lively and cheerful rate," said the Buffalo Enquirer in 1895.[13] "Whatever his sex, it is evident that he is a musician, for he breathes a love of music in many a verse," commented a Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewer in 1911, after admitting that they did not know which pronouns to use for the poet.[14] Louis Untermeyer dismissed her last collection in The New Republic, with a typographic description: "The Cry of Vashti has almost two hundred pages of excellently printed, technically correct, neatly spaced verse."[15]

Evans was vice-president of the New York chapter of the National League of American Pen Women.[16] She was a longtime member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Buffalo, and the Saturday Club of Rockport.[17] In 1931, she won a spelling bee conducted by the Buffalo Evening News and the Poetry Society of Buffalo.[18]

Publications
  • In Various Moods (1891, 1893)[19]
  • Nymphs, Nixies, and Naiads: Legends of the Rhine (1895)[20]
  • The Moonlight Sonata and Other Verses (1910)[21]
  • The Caliph's Secret and Other Verses (1916)[22]
  • The Cry of Vashti (1922)[23]

Personal life

Buck married Spalding Evans in 1879.[24] Her husband's company manufactured dredges and merry-go-rounds; he died in 1923.[25] They had a daughter, Mary Hale Evans Norton.[26] Evans died from a stroke in 1934, at the age of 77, at her home in Lockport.[5][16] One of her sisters died soon after; she became ill while attending at Evans's funeral.[27]

References
  1. "Valuable Heirloom in Home of Mrs. Spalding Evans, Lockport, Made by Father of Joseph Ellicott". The Buffalo Times. 1927-10-30. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American commonwealth Company. 1914. p. 280.
  3. "M. A. B. Evans". The Magazine of Poetry and Literary Review. 7 (11): 481–483. November 1895.
  4. "Annual Meeting of Lockport High School Alumni". The Buffalo Times. 1919-06-23. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Mrs. Mary Evans Dies in Lockport; Widely Known Writer and Club Woman Succumbs to Apoplexy at Home". The Buffalo News. 1934-01-08. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Varied Verse in 'Cry of Vashti'; New Book by M. A. B. Evans Just Off the Press". The Buffalo Times. 1922-11-26. p. 45. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "The Caliph's Secret; New Book of Poems by M. A. B. Evans is Just Issued". Buffalo Courier. 1916-09-08. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Evans, M. A. B. (1895). "'Ballade of Rare Books' and 'The Price of Tamurlane'". The Book-lover's Almanac. 3: 8, 51.
  9. Evans, M. A. B. (December 26, 1895). "Ballade of Fashions". Vogue.
  10. "Sixty Artists at Lockport Festival". Musical America. 28: 11. September 21, 1918.
  11. Watt, Charles E. (September 24, 1920). "Lockport, N. Y." The Music News. 12 (2): 8, 19–20.
  12. "Mrs. Spalding Evans' Fine New Book of Poetry". Buffalo Courier. 1910-12-21. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Literary Gossip". The Buffalo Enquirer. 1895-12-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Poems of M. A. B. Evans". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1911-03-04. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Untermeyer, Louis (June 27, 1923). "The Average Run". The New Republic. 35: 131.
  16. "Mary Evans, Writer, Dies at Lockport; Manufacturer's Widow was Prominent in Literary Groups". Democrat and Chronicle. 1934-01-07. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Evans, M. A. B. (November 1895). "Saturday Club, Rockport". University Extension Bulletin (11): 359–360.
  18. "Shorter Words Trip Veteran Spellers of Poetry Society; Mrs. Spaulding Evans Wins Contest". The Buffalo News. 1931-12-31. p. 28. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Evans, M. A. B. (1891). In various moods. New York etc.: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  20. Evans, M. A. B. (1895). Nymphs, nixies and naiads; legends of the Rhine. New York, London: G.P. Putnam's sons.
  21. Evans, M. A. B. (1910). The moonlight sonata, and other verses. New York and London: G.P. Putnam's sons.
  22. Evans, Mary Anna Buck (1916). The Caliph's Secret: And Other Verses. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  23. Evans, M. A. B. (1922). The cry of Vashti. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  24. "Mrs. Spaulding Evans Writes a New Book". The Buffalo Times. 1916-06-12. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. Adams, Clarence (1999-01-17). "Four families grew and intermarried, influencing the history of Lockport/Clarence Adams". The Buffalo News. p. 110. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. "City Owes Her Symmetry to Great Surveyor". The Buffalo Times. 1927-11-06. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. "Mrs. Fannie Clark Dies in Lockport; Stricken While in City for Funeral of Her Sister". The Buffalo News. 1934-01-17. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-07-22 – via Newspapers.com.
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