Poems by a Little Girl

Hilda Conkling was only four years old when she began to say poetic verses, which she dictated to her mother. This anthology contains poems she composed in her earliest youth, until the age of nine.


Poems By a Little Girl is a large and representative collection of Hilda Conkling's literary efforts. All the poems were dictated out loud to her mother, who took to writing them down - Hilda would afterwards check what was written and amend any errors in what her mother wrote. Whether mother and daughter were roaming the New England countryside together or at home, Hilda would spontaneously speak her verses, eventually composing hundreds of such poems.


The most popular topic for the young poet was nature; many of her poems narrate the beauty of the seasons, of animals, the woods and fields, of the skies and the coastline. Simple descriptions are interwoven with fantasy, conveying an impression of a child's vivid imagination at work. Others relate to family life, with references to keeping childish secrets from her older sister or the great affection with which Hilda appreciates her mother.


The author stopped composing poems when she was in her early teens, with her final anthology published when she was fifteen. Although Hilda Conkling faded to obscurity in adulthood, her works have resurfaced somewhat in the modern day - certain of her poems have been set to music, while her anthologies have been reprinted.