Josephine Jacobsen (19 August 1908 – 9 July 2003) was a Canadian-born American poet, short story writer, essayist, and critic.
Instead, Jacobsen "wrote, travelled, and acted with the Vagabond Players (a well-known Baltimore theatre troupe) until 1932 when she married".
Jacobsen's literary career began when her first poem was published in the children's St. Nicholas Magazine when she was 11 years old.
"[10] In her late teens, Jacobsen started publishing in the Junior League magazine Connected.
[12] Jacobsen's nonfiction writing includes reviews, lectures and essays for such publications as Commonweal, The Nation, and The Washington Post.
[18] From 1979 to 1983, she was a member of both the literature panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and of the poetry committee of the Folger Library.
In part, "the medal honored her legendary generosity in helping younger, struggling poets get their work published, a quality considered rare in her profession.
[18] RecognitionJoseph Brodsky praised Jacobsen's poetry for its "reserve, stoic timbre, and its high precision".
[14] She was known for "elegant, concise phrasing on a wide range of topics and in varied forms" in which she "plumbed questions of identity, interrelatedness and isolation".
"[20] William Jay Smith of The New York Times Book Review praised Jacobsen's "observant eye and varied interest" and her "broad range of skillfully handled stanza forms.
"[20] Joyce Carol Oates also of The New York Times Book Review compared Jacobsen with John Crowe Ransom, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop, all of whose poetry is "fastidiously imagined, brilliantly pared back, miniature narrative that always yields up a small shock of wonder.
"[20] A Washington Post Book World review of her short stories wrote that Jacobsen is certain of "what is and is not important, and why.
[23] A memorial Mass was offered for Jacobsen on September 4, 2003, at the Marikle Chapel of the Annunciation at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.