- Galway Kinnell
Infobox Writer
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name = Galway Kinnell
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birthdate =February 1 ,1927
birthplace =Providence, Rhode Island
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occupation =poet
nationality = American
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website =Galway Kinnell (born February 1st, 1927 in
Providence, Rhode Island ) is one of the most influential American poets of the latter half of the 20th century. An admitted follower ofWalt Whitman , Kinnell rejects the idea of seeking fulfillment by escaping into the imaginary world. His best-loved and most anthologized poems, such as "St. Francis and the Sow" and "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps," stand as testaments to the significant possibilities for transcendent realization that can be induced by meticulous excavation of the physical universe.Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Kinnell said that as a youth he was turned on to
poetry byEdgar Allan Poe andEmily Dickinson , drawn to both the musical appeal of their poetry and the idea that they led solitary lives. The allure of the language spoke to what he describes as the homogeneous feel of his hometown,Pawtucket, Rhode Island .Kinnell studied at
Princeton University , graduating in 1948 alongside friend and fellow poetW.S. Merwin . He received his master of arts degree from theUniversity of Rochester [ [http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=872 Press release] of November 8, 2000, from theUniversity of Rochester ] . He traveled extensively inEurope and theMiddle East , and went toParis on aFulbright Fellowship . During the 1960s, theCivil Rights Movement in theUnited States caught his attention. Upon returning to the US, he joined CORE (Congress of Racial Equality ) and worked on voter registration and workplace integration inHammond, Louisiana . This effort got him arrested. Kinnell draws upon both his involvement with the civil rights movement and his experiences protesting against theVietnam War in his book-long poem "The Book of Nightmares".While much of Kinnell's work seems to deal with social issues, it is by no means confined to one subject. Some critics have pointed to the spiritual dimensions of his poetry, as well as the nature imagery present throughout his work. “The Fundamental Project of Technology” deals with all three of those elements, creating an eerie, chant-like and surreal exploration of the horrors atomic weapons inflict on humanity and nature. Sometimes Kinnell utilizes simple and brutal images (“Lieutenant! / This corpse will not stop burning!” from “The Dead Shall be Raised Incorruptible”) to address his anger at the destructiveness of humanity, informed by Kinnell’s activism and love of nature. There’s also a certain sadness in all of the horror—“Nobody would write poetry if the world seemed perfect.” There’s also optimism and beauty in his quiet, ponderous language, especially in the large role animals and children have in his later work (“Other animals are angels. Human babies are angels”), evident in poems such as “Daybreak” and “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps”.
In addition to his works of poetry and his translations, Kinnell published one novel ("Black Light", 1966) and one children's book ("How the Alligator Missed Breakfast", 1982). A close friend of James Wright until Wright's death in 1980, Kinnell's two elegies to Wright appear in "From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright."Kinnell was the
Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Creative Writing atNew York University and a Chancellor of theAmerican Academy of Poets . He is now retired and resides at his home in Vermont.Works
* "What a Kingdom It Was" (1960)
* "Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock" (1964)
* "Black Light" (1966)
* "Body Rags" (1968)
* "The Book of Nightmares" (1971)
* "The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World: Poems 1946-64" (1974)
* "Walking Down the Stairs" (a collection of interviews) (1978).
* "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words" (1980)
* "Selected Poems" (1982)Pulitzer Prize ;National Book Award
* "How the Alligator Missed Breakfast" (1982)
* "The Past" (1985)
* "When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone" (1990)
* "Three Books" (1993)
* "Imperfect Thirst" (1996)
* "A New Selected Poems" (2000)National Book Award finalist.
* "Strong Is Your Hold"(2006)
* "Blackberry Eating"He has also published translations ofYves Bonnefoy ,Yvanne Goll ,François Villon , andRainer Maria Rilke .External links
* [http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/11/14_edgerlym_galwaykinnell: "Interview with Galway Kinnell by Mike Edgerly on Minnesota Public Radio"] MPR Interview
* [http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1025/p15s1-bogn.html The loveliness of pigs: Galway Kinnell searches for the real beauty] interview and poem “Daybreak” on the [http://www.csmonitor.com/ Christian Science Monitor]
* [http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/17/kinnell17.html Cortland Review] interview and poem “The Fundamental Project of Technology”
* [http://openvault.wgbh.org/ntw/MLA000008/index.html: "Galway Kinnel reads 'Wait' "] for the WGBH series, [http://openvault.wgbh.org/series/New+Television+Workshop/ New Television Workshop]
* [http://openvault.wgbh.org/ntw/MLA000371/index.html: " 'Since you asked..,' with Galway Kinnell] for the WGBH series, [http://openvault.wgbh.org/series/New+Television+Workshop/ New Television Workshop]
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/212 Academy of American Poets] biography and links to interviews and poems
* [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/kinnell/life.htm Modern American Poetry] short biographyReferences
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