Elizabeth Bartlett (July 20, 1911 – August 12, 1994) was an American poet and writer noted for her lyrical and symbolic poetry, creation of the new twelve-tone form of poetry, founder of the international non-profit organization Literary Olympics, Inc., and known as an author of fiction, essays, reviews, translations, and as an editor.

Life Bartlett, Elizabeth Roberta Winters, was born in New York City. She was the daughter of Lewis Winters and his wife, Charlotte Field. A gifted child, Bartlett skipped a grade in elementary school, completed high school in three years, and, also in three years, her bachelor's degree from Teachers' College, 1931, and subsequently carried out postgraduate study at Columbia University, 1938–40.Who's Who in the West, 16th edition, 1978-79, p. 40.The World's Who's Who of Women, 11th edition, 1992, and 13th edition, 1995.Biographical information from the Elizabeth Bartlett Collection, Archive for New Poetry, Mandeville Department of Special Collections, University of California, San Diego.

In 1941, she met writer and artist Paul Alexander Bartlett in Guadalajara; they were married in 1943 in Sayula, Mexico. Her husband was an accomplished artist and author of many published novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction works relating to the Mexican haciendas.Inventory of the Paul Alexander Bartlett papers, 1912-1993 held by the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming . This collection contains fine art by Paul Alexander Bartlett, consisting of his paintings in multiple media, drawings, and sketches, and 77 original pen-and-ink illustrations, as well as 1,271 prints and 799 negatives of photographs of the Mexican haciendas that are in addition to those included in the major collection of these at the University of Texas ; literary and publishing correspondence; personal records; notes; newspaper clippings; program and exhibit announcements; book reviews; original manuscripts; a complete collection of Paul Alexander Bartlett's published books, short stories, essays, poetry, and reviews; a collection of his publications in literary reviews, journals, and newspapers; and anthologies in which his work was published. Also included in the collection are original copies of a wide variety of as yet unpublished manuscripts (books, short stories, and poetry). Online PDF inventory of this collection. They had one child, Steven James Bartlett (b. 1945), later to become a widely published author in the fields of psychology and philosophy. For many years Elizabeth Bartlett lived in numerous areas of Mexico while she dedicated herself to poetry and her husband undertook a lifelong extensive art and photographic study of more than 350 haciendas throughout the country.Inventory of the Paul A. Bartlett Drawings and Photographs of Mexican Haciendas held by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection of the University of Texas . The collection includes Paul Alexander Bartlett's 294 original pen-and-ink illustrations of the haciendas of Mexico, 903 hacienda photographs, 279 negatives, and 69 slides.Finding aid for the Paul Alexander Bartlett Collection held by the Department of Special Collections of the Charles E. Young Research Library of the University of California, Los Angeles.Bartlett, Paul Alexander. The Haciendas of Mexico: An Artist's Record. Foreword by James Michener; Introduction by leading historian of the Mexican haciendas Gisela von Wobeser, trans. by Steven J. Bartlett. Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado, 1990. Illustrations and photographs reproduced in this book were selected from the collection, Paul A. Bartlett Drawings and Photographs of Mexican Haciendas, held by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection of the University of Texas .

Periodically they returned to the U.S. where Bartlett taught at Southern Methodist University (1947–49), San Jose State University (1960–61), the University of California, Santa Barbara (1961–64), San Diego State University (1979–81), and the University of San Diego (1981–82). She served as Director of the Creative Writers Association of the New School for Social Research (1955), as Consultant for Theatre Atlanta, as visiting poet at universities in Canada, California, Florida, and Texas, and as Poetry Editor for ETC: A Review of General Semantics and for Crosscurrents. After purchasing a house in Comala, Mexico, her husband's health failed in 1976 and they settled in San Diego where Bartlett continued to work, give poetry readings, and teach until her death in 1994.

Contributions to poetry

Called "the Emily Dickinson of the 20th Century" by Chad Walsh, distinguished poet and writer, in The Saturday Review,Walsh, Chad. "Cadence for Our Time," Saturday Review, Vol. 48, Jan. 2, 1965, pp. 28-30.Commendations from letters, pre-publication correspondence, and other records and documentation preserved in the Elizabeth Bartlett Collection, Archive for New Poetry, Mandeville Department of Special Collections, University of California, San Diego. Elizabeth Bartlett's concise lyrics have been praised by Allen Tate, William Stafford, Ted Weiss, Maxine Kumin, Josephine Jacobsen, and Robert M. Hutchins, among others, and commended by musicians and composers. Bartlett is a widely recognized poet, the author of 16 published books of her own poetry and more than 1,000 individually published poems, as well as essays, short stories, collections of poetry edited by her, and poetry translations by her from other languages.Elizabeth Bartlett Collection held by Rare Books, Archives and Special Collections, University of Louisville . She has gained international attention for her many publications, the creation of a new form of poetry, the twelve-tone poem, and as founder of the international non-profit organization, Literary Olympics, Inc., which has sought to reinstate the role of literature in the Olympic Games as originally conceived by the Greeks.

Bartlett's poetry Bartlett's poetry is lyrical, disciplined in structure, expressing a heightened consciousness of word sounds and symbolism, and infused with "delicate nuance, a sort of reticent and abstracted reverie that could nevertheless, at its best, be extremely moving.... [Her poetry] bucked the trend in modern literature toward the precise and realistic description of detail and the confessional flavor...."Webb, J. F.. "Bartlett's Poetic Legacy Will Be Felt for Decades to Come," The San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 6, 1994, p. E-3.

Twelve-tone poems Bartlett created and developed the twelve-tone form of poetry, adapting Arnold Schoenberg's musical system to the verbal, accented sounds of language. Twelve-Tone Poems, her first book that introduced this form, was published in 1968.Bartlett, Elizabeth. Twelve-tone Poems. Santa Barbara, CA: Sun Press, 1968. In Bartlett's words: "The 12-tone poem is a new form.... It was inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's musical system. The poem consists of 12 lines, divided into couplets. Each couplet contains 12 syllables, using the natural cadence of speech. The accented sounds of the words are considered tones. Only 12 tones are used throughout the poem, repeated various times. As a result, the poem achieves a rare harmony that is purely lyrical, enriching its imagery and meaning."Bartlett, Elizabeth. Around the Clock. Laurinburg, NC: St. Andrews Press, 1989, p. iv.

About this work, Allen Tate wrote: "The new form is most interesting, the poems quite beautiful and distinguished." Encouraged by this and other commendatory responses to her twelve-tone poems by poets, musicians, and composers including Stephen Sondheim, Bartlett continued to develop the new form. The House of Sleep, published in 1975, was the result, consisting of 68 poems related to dreams and written in the new form.Bartlett, Elizabeth. The House of Sleep. Colima, Mexico: Autograph Editions, 1975. Of these poems, William Stafford wrote: "There is a trancelike progression in these poems, in which all unfolds quietly, with a steady holding of a certain pervasive tone."Commendation from book cover: Bartlett, Elizabeth. The House of Sleep. Colima, Mexico: Autograph Editions, 1975. Robert M. Hutchins wrote: "I am much impressed. The poems seem to me what is called an important contribution, and a beautiful one." A third collection of twelve-tone poems, In Search of Identity, was published in 1977,Bartlett, Elizabeth. In Search of Identity. San Diego, CA: Autograph Editions, 1977. further establishing the diversity and versatility of ways in which Bartlett was able to make use of the new form. A fourth collection of twelve-tone poems was published in 1981, Memory Is No Stranger.Bartlett, Elizabeth. Memory Is No Stranger. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1981.

Literary Olympics In her mission to bring the work of leading poets to public awareness, Bartlett founded the international non-profit organization, Literary Olympics, Inc. Like Marianne Moore, "Bartlett ... [was] a member of that small group of men and women who, during this century, have furthered the art of others at no small cost to themselves in time, money and sleepless nights. People such as Harriet Monroe, whose small journal Poetry furthered the careers of Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot; Sylvia Beach, owner of the Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company, who championed James Joyce in the face of the most rabid censors; Edward Marsh, the much-pilloried editor of the Georgian Poetry anthologies; and others."

Until her death in 1994, Elizabeth Bartlett devoted twelve years to this project whose goal was to reinstate the role of literature, and specifically of poetry, in the Olympic Games as originally implemented by the Greeks.Perrottet, Tony. The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games. New York: Random House, 2004. To this end, she served as founder and CEO of Literary Olympics, Inc., an international non-profit project that brought together every four years in conjunction with the summer Olympic Games a published anthology containing the work of leading poets from many countries. She coordinated and directed the work of associate editors in Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, East, North, and West Europe, Great Britain, Latin America, and the United States.

The first Literary Olympics poetry anthology was published in 1984 to coincide with the Games of the XXIII Olympiad held in Los Angeles, and included the work of poets from nine countries.Bartlett, Elizabeth (Poetry Ed.). Literary Olympians: 1984. Westlake Village, CA: Crosscurrents, 1984. The publication of the second anthology, to coincide with the 1988 Olympic Games held in Seoul, South Korea, grew to represent more than 30 nations.Bartlett, Elizabeth (Poetry Ed.). Literary Olympians II. Westlake Village, CA: Crosscurrents, 1987. By 1992, coinciding with the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, the Literary Olympics anthology had grown to represent 132 poets from 65 countries and 55 languages.Bartlett, Elizabeth (Ed.). Literary Olympians 1992: An International Anthology. Boston: Ford-Brown & Co., 1992. Second printing, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. These anthologies shared the intent to recognize and to honor the creative work of the world's leading poets in a way that was true to the original spirit of the Greek Olympic Games. Each volume was published in a multi-language format, with non-English poems translated into English by well-qualified poetry translators.

Recognition and importance