Janet Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Chicago. She founded the literary journal Gyroscope along with her husband, the poet and critic Yvor Winters, and taught at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. Known mostly as the author of historical novels, Lewis dedicated both the early and later years of her life to poetry. Her poetry never gained widespread acclaim, but has developed a group of admirers including Kenneth Rexroth, Theodore Roethke, and Dana Gioia. In poems such as “Carmel Highlands,” Lewis creates strong, vivid imagery while writing with rhythmic lyricism.