Phyllis McGinley

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Phyllis McGinley has had her verse set to music by John Duke, Libby Larsen, Gladys Rich, and several other composers. She also contributed lyrics to Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide. Her children's book The Year Without a Santa Claus remains popular.

Photo: Phyllis McGinley, 1961, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

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About

Born in Ontario, Oregon, Phyllis McGinley grew up in Colorado and Utah. After studying at the University of Southern California and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, she moved to New Rochelle, New York, working as a teacher and starting a career as a writer. She moved to New York City soon thereafter, and then, after marrying Charles Hayden, moved to the suburb of Larchmont, New York. The positive aspects of suburban life often provide the subject matter for her writing.

In addition to several books of poetry, McGinley wrote essays, children’s books, and lyrics. She also wrote the script for an animated film “The Emperor’s Nightingale” (1951). In 1961, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

McGinley’s life in the suburbs had an impact on her work.

–Christie Finn
Source: Poets.org from the Academy of American Poets

Related Information

Songs

Books

Sheet Music

Songs By John Duke, Vol. 1

Composer(s): John Duke

Song(s): 1. When the Rose Is Brightest (Nathaniel Parker Willis)
2. Stopping by Woods on а Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)
3. The Puritan's Ballad (Elinor Wylie)
4. Midcentury Love Letter (Phyllis McGinley)
5. All Beauty Calls You to Me (Sara Teasdale)
6. Listen, I Love You (Sara Teasdale)
7. I am so weak а Thing (Sara Teasdale)
8. All Things in the World Can Rest, But I (Sara Teasdale)
9. Oh, My Love (Sara Teasdale)
10. Renouncement (Alice Meynell)
11. Noonday (Traditional Chinese)
12. Through Your Window (Traditional Chinese)
13. The Shoreless Sea (Traditional Chinese)
14. New Feet within My Garden Go (Emily Dickinson)
15. The Rose did Caper on Her Cheek (Emily Dickinson)
16. Have You Got а Brook in Your Little Heart? (Emily Dickinson)
17. I Taste а Liquor Never Brewed (Emily Dickinson)
18. The Better Part (George Santayana)

Voice Type: High

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