Background
She was born as Aline Murray on 1 August 1888 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the daughter of Ada Foster Murray, a poet. And Kenton C. Murray, (d 1895) editor of the Norfolk Landmark newspaper.
She was born as Aline Murray on 1 August 1888 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the daughter of Ada Foster Murray, a poet. And Kenton C. Murray, (d 1895) editor of the Norfolk Landmark newspaper.
Aline attended the Rutgers College Preparatory School with her husband, Alfred Joyce Kilmer and married him soon after his graduation from Columbia University in 1908. Aline was educated at the Rutgers College Grammar School (now Rutgers Preparatory School) in New Brunswick, New Jersey and the Vail-Deane School in Elizabeth, New Jersey the latter institution from which she was graduated in 1908.
After his death in World War I, Aline began publishing her own poetry and a few children"s books Today, her work is largely forgotten. Ada Foster Murray, remarried on February 22, 1900, in Metuchen, New Jersey to Henry Mills Alden.
Henry was the managing editor of Harper"s Magazine, and he became Aline"s stepfather.
Shortly after graduation, Aline married Alfred Joyce Kilmer on June 9, 1908, after he was graduated from Columbia University in New York City. The pair had five children: Kenton Sinclair Kilmer (1909-1995), Rose Kilburn Kilmer (1912-1917), Deborah Clanton Kilmer (1914-1999), Michael Barry Kilmer (1916-1927), and Christopher Kilmer (1917-1984).
Shortly before Joyce"s deployment to France in World War I, Rose died. After Joyce"s death in Battle, Kilmer turned to publishing her poetry and to authoring children"s book
Aline"s poetry is described as "subtle, delicate, and somewhat subdued—certainly far from gayety" and with a tone of "ironic disillusionment" compared to her husband"s as "direct, vigorous, gay."
In her final three years, Aline suffered from an excruciating illness.
Aline Kilmer died at her home, "Whitehall", in Stillwater Township, New Jersey, on October 1, 1941 and was interred at Saint Joseph"s Catholic Cemetery in Newton, New Jersey. Five lines from her poem, "Sanctuary", are inscribed on her gravestone:.
Married Joyce Kilmer, poet, June 9, 1908 (died 1918).