# Olive Dargan

## Biography

Olive Tilford Dargan, born January 11, 1869, in Kentucky, was a notable American poet, playwright, and novelist whose work often explored the lives of Appalachian people. After her family moved to the Missouri Ozarks, she began teaching at a young age. She attended Peabody College and Radcliffe, where she met her husband, the poet Pegram Dargan. Her literary career commenced in 1904 with poetic dramas and lyric poetry.

Following her husband's death in 1915, Dargan spent much of her life in the North Carolina mountains, a region that profoundly influenced her writing. Her collections of poetry, such as *The Cycle's Rim* and *Lute and Furrow*, reflected her deep connection to nature and the Southern Appalachians. Later, writing under the pseudonym Fielding Burke, she produced novels like *Call Home the Heart*, which addressed social issues including labor struggles, feminism, and class disparities. Dargan received an honorary degree from the University of North Carolina in 1925. She passed away on January 22, 1968, at the age of ninety-nine.

## Books

- [Lords and Lovers: and Other Dramas](https://samolit.com/books/96699)