Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio: masters thesis on the poetry
of Alfred Edward Housman; and roomed with poet
Robert Lowell.
Taught at
Kenyon College, the University of Texas, the University of Illinois, Sarah
Lawrence College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Strong reputation as a critic.
Influences include:
Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, and Wallace Stevens.
Translated poems by Rainer Maria Rilke and other poets,
a play by Anton Chekhov, and many Grimm fairy tales.
Time Line.
1914
Born in Tennessee, USA.
1940
Poems: first publication in a book of poetry in Five Young American Poets,
which included poetry by John Berryman.
1942
Poems: Blood for a Stranger, first collection of poetry.
1945
Poems: Little Friend, Little Friend, second collection of poetry.
1948
Poems: Losses, third collection of poetry.
1951
Poems: The Seven-League Crutches, fourth collection of poetry.
1952
Married Mary von Schrader, his second wife.
1953
Criticism (collection of essays): Poetry and the Age.
Met T.S. Eliot (for the first and only time) and avoided a discussion with him.
1954
Satiric novel: Pictures from an Institution.
1955
Nomination of novel Pictures from an Institution
for National Book Award.