Willa Cather Research Paper

Willa Cather Willa Cather was a twentieth century poet, journalist, and novelist. Her poetic style was different from the other type of writing at that time. She was known for her strong and thoughtful descriptions of the people and places she encountered during her life. In May of 1944, Willa Cather was seventy-one years old and was nearing the end of her career when she was presented a gold medal. It was not just any old gold medal. It was awarded to her by the National Institute of Arts and Letters, this was the highest award an author could receive. At that time, this gold medal was only presented once every decade to a fiction writer. Cather had already been given many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, for her book, One of Ours. But, this gold medal was not presented for a single book, but, to honor her for all her works throughout her career and the contribution she had made to American literature …show more content…
Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873. She was the first born child to Mary Virginia Boak and Charles Fectigue Cather. At that time, they were living with Willa’s maternal grandmother, Rachel Boak, in a small, established farming community, the Back Creek Valley, Virginia (now Gore). Willa was surrounded every day by soft rolling pastureland, plowed fields, lazy creeks, and wooded hills in the area (Wooten, 13-14). She was named Willela Sibert Cather. Willela was in memory of her father’s youngest sister. Her name also honored her mother’s brother William Lee Boak. He had been killed in the Civil War, which had ended eight years before Willa’s birth. Like her uncle, Willa was called, “Willie” by her family and friends. While she was still a young girl, she chose to change her name to Willa. Later, she changed her name in the Cather Family Bible (Wooten 15-16). Willa’s parents were a good looking couple. Her father

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