Bates, Katharine Lee (1859-1929), an American poet and educator, wrote the words to the popular patriotic song “America the Beautiful.” She originally composed the words as a poem in 1893. The poem, inspired by a spectacular view she had seen from Pikes Peak in Colorado, first appeared in 1895 in The Congregationalist, a religious magazine. Many people wanted the poem set to music, and the melody “Materna” (1882), by the American composer Samuel Augustus Ward, was chosen.
Bates was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Aug. 12, 1859. She graduated from Wellesley College and taught English literature there from 1885 to 1925. When Bates was made a full professor in 1891, she was among the few women in the United States to hold that rank. Bates wrote a number of scholarly books. Her most famous books include The English Religious Drama (1893) and American Literature (1897). She died on March 28, 1929.
