John Gould Fletcher (1886 - 1950) was a Pulitzer Prize winning Imagist poet and author. Although born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he lived in England for a large portion of his life, associating with Imagist poets such as Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound. Fletcher's early works include Irradiations: Sand and Spray (1915) and Goblins and Pagodas (1916). His later, more traditional poetic works include The Black Rock (1928), the Pulitzer Prize winning Selected Poems (1938), and The Burning Mountain (1946). Fletcher was part of a literary movement known as the Southern Agrarians, a group of twelve southern writers and poets, who published an agrarian manifesto, a collection of essays entitled I'll Take My Stand in 1930. These writers became part of a renaissance of southern literature during the 1920's and 1930's.
Francis Wolle (1889-1979) received his master’s degree in English at the University of Colorado and continued his graduate work at the Sorbonne and at Columbia University. He began teaching at the University of Colorado in 1913, spending forty-four years on the University of Colorado Department of English faculty. Wolle served six years as chairman of the English department. He was associated with more than eighty plays during his time at CU and was the director of University Dramatics from 1914–1940. Between 1917 and 1933, Wolle wrote, produced, and directed fifteen University of Colorado musical comedies. Wolle served overseas in the army during World War I. He advanced to the rank of captain. Upon his return to Colorado he was named commander of a company that later became the Colorado National Guard. During World War II this unit was called to service. Wolle chaired a committee that helped with navy training on campus during the war. He married Muriel V. Sibell on October 26, 1945. After Wolle retired from the University in 1959, he became active in youth ministry at the Episcopal Church in Boulder. He was ordained as a priest of the Episcopal Church in April 1973; he was granted special permission to be ordained despite age restrictions, and became the oldest man to receive ordination.
Hilda Doolittle, or H.D. (1886-1961) was a well-known Imagist poet. She corresponded with her cousin, CU English Professor Francis Wolle, while she lived in Europe. She was awarded the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as the Brandeis and Longview Awards.
From the guide to the John Gould Fletcher and Francis Wolle Correspondence (MS 197), 1944, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)
