# Betsy Colquitt

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**Elizabeth "Betsy" Colquitt** (1926 – 7 April 2009) was an American [professor](/source/Professor) of English and a [poet](/source/Poet) known for [themes](/source/Theme_(literature)) and poetic structures which reflect a [modernist](/source/Modernist) sensibility. She was born in [Fort Worth, Texas](/source/Fort_Worth,_Texas), [United States](/source/United_States) in 1926 and died on 7 April 2009.[1]

## Background

Colquitt's [poems](/source/Poems), [essays](/source/Essays), and reviews have been widely published in major American [literary journals](/source/Literary_journals) for forty years. Colquitt, née Betsy Ruth Feagan, was born in Fort Worth, Texas[1] where she attended [Paschal High School](/source/R._L._Paschal_High_School)[1] and graduated with honors with a degree in English from [Texas Christian University](/source/Texas_Christian_University) in 1947.[1] She attended [Vanderbilt University](/source/Vanderbilt_University) and studied [creative writing](/source/Creative_writing) in a graduate program that included [Allen Tate](/source/Allen_Tate) and [John Crowe Ransom](/source/John_Crowe_Ransom) who served as Colquitt's professors and mentors. [James Dickey](/source/James_Dickey) was a classmate. Colquitt received her M.A. degree from Vanderbilt in 1948.[1] She attended the [University of Wisconsin–Madison](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison) to work on her Ph.D. but left the program in 1953 to return to Fort Worth because her mother had suffered a stroke. Colquitt joined the faculty of the English department at Texas Christian University in 1953 where she taught literature and creative writing until her retirement in 1995. A course she developed on the "Interrelation of the Arts" became a mainstay of the program and a much beloved and influential course among her students. At TCU, she also became the founding editor of the literary journal *Descant*, which she edited for twenty-five years. The major poetry award offered by *Descant* is named in her honor.

While at TCU, Colquitt met and married Landon Colquitt,[1] a [mathematics](/source/Mathematics) professor to whom she was married until his death from a [heart attack](/source/Myocardial_infarction) in 1991. The Colquitts had two daughters, Kate, a physician, and Clare, a professor at [San Diego State University](/source/San_Diego_State_University).

Colquitt's volumes of poetry include *Honor Card and Other Poems* (Saurian Press, 1980) and *Eve: From the Autobiography and Other Poems* (Texas Christian University Press, 1997). *Eve* has been praised for its [feminist](/source/Feminist) analyses of [creativity](/source/Creativity) and of woman's role in the creation, and this volume together with many of Colquitt's other [poems](/source/Poems) and [essays](/source/Essays), have led many critics to view Colquitt as a leading woman writer. Critics also praise Colquitt's work for its insights into [cognition](/source/Cognition) and creativity and for its sensitivity to the longings of the [human heart](/source/Heart_(symbol)) for an [identity](/source/Psychological_identity) rooted in [meaning](/source/Meaning_(linguistic)) and purpose. James Ward Lee wrote: "Betsy Colquitt has long been recognized as one of Texas’ finest poets."[2]

Information on and analyses of Colquitt's works are included in *Contemporary Authors, Who's Who of American Women, Directory of American Scholars*, and *World's Who's Who of Women*. She also held memberships in the Texas Institute of Letters and in the American Center for Artists.

## References

1. ["Longtime English professor Betsy Colquitt '47 dies"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150223133403/http://www.magazine.tcu.edu/Magazine/Article.aspx?ArticleId=109). The TCU Magazine. Summer 2009. Archived from [the original](http://www.magazine.tcu.edu/Magazine/Article.aspx?ArticleId=109) on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

1. [Eve - from the Autobiography](http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/1997/colquitt.htm), Texas A&M University.

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