John Taggart

John Taggart (1942) is an American poet and critic. He was born in Guthrie Center, Iowa. He graduated with honors in 1965 from Earlham College in Indiana, earning a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy. In 1966 he received a M.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Chicago, and in 1974 he completed a Ph.D. in the Humanities Interdisciplinary Studies Program at Syracuse University. [ [http://content-backend-a.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf2r29n9vh&chunk.id=bioghist-1.2.6 John Taggart Papers] .] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Taggart was the editor and publisher of Maps, an acclaimed literary magazine. In 1978, edited an issue of "Truck" devoted to the work of Theodore Enslin. His work has been widely published and anthologized, and as far back as 1978 his unique style was exerting an influence over his peers, poets such as Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Gil Ott. [Robert Duncan considers Taggarts poetics and influence in his introduction to "Dodeka".] For many years he was Professor of English and Director of the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Shippensburg University; he retired in 2001. [See [http://www.flashpointmag.com/tagintro.htm The Necessary Word: A Tribute to John Taggart] in [http://www.flashpointmag.com/ FlashPoint magazine] .]

Overview

Taggart's approach to the poem is strongly rooted in Objectivist poetics, particularly the works of Louis Zukofsky and George Oppen. [See [http://content-backend-a.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf2r29n9vh&chunk.id=bioghist-1.2.6 John Taggart Papers] , "His dissertation, titled "Intending a Solid Object: A Study in Objectivist Poetics," was one of the first extended discussions of the compositional strategies informing the work of poets Louis Zukofsky and George Oppen."See also [http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/le-ry-jt.htm Two Approaches to John Taggart's "Slow Song for Mark Rothko" and "Inside Out" by Rochelle Ratner and Karl Young] .] Unlike most others of his generation whose poetries sprung from similar influences, Taggart stayed away from, on the one hand, the mainstream variations of the neatly packaged imagistic poem, and, on the other hand, the aggressively language-centered writing that foregrounded the materiality of text over the voice of the author. [See [http://www.flashpointmag.com/kimelman.htm Burt Kimmelman's "Quantum Syntax: John Taggart's Discrete Serialism"] , which discusses some of the ways in which Taggart's work eludes easy classification.]

Works

Poetry
*To Construct a Clock (Elizabeth Press, 1971)
*The Pyramid Is Pure Crystal (Elizabeth Press, 1974)
* Prism and the Pine Twig (Elizabeth Press, 1977)
* [http://www.bigbridge.org/young/jt.htm Dodeka] (Membrane, 1979)
*Peace On Earth (Turtle Island, 1981)
* [http://www.bigbridge.org/young/jt.htm Dehiscence] (Membrane, 1983)
*Loop (Sun and Moon, 1991)
* [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Literary_Arts/projects/road/Taggart.html Standing Wave] (Lost Roads, 1993)
*When the Saints (Talisman House, 1999)
* [http://www.floodeditions.com/new/taggart.html Pastorelles] (Flood Editions, 2004)

Prose
*Remaining in Light: Ant Meditations on a Painting by Edward Hopper (1993, SUNY Press)
*Songs of Degrees: Essays on Contemporary Poetry and Poetics (1994, University Alabama Press)

Resources

For further research see:
* [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0011a.html The John Taggart Papers, 1962–2002] at UC–San Diego
* [http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/t/taggart_j.htm John Taggart Papers 1965–1974] at Syracuse University
* [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/fales/coll_mss/taggart.html The John Taggart (re: Maps) Archive] at NYU
* [http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/findaids/Taggart/MSS19980214.html John Taggart Papers] at UConn

External links

* [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Literary_Arts/projects/road/Taggart.html Question No Question] a poem at Lost Roads
* [http://www.webdelsol.com/Facture/poems/JohnTaggart.pdf from Chicago Breakdown] (PDF) at Facture
* [http://www.fencemag.com/v6n2/text/taggart.html Pastorelle 2] at Fence
* [http://www.poetrybay.com/winter2004/taggert.html Pastorelle 11] at Poetrybay
* [http://www.thing.net/~grist/l&d/ltagrt1.htm Two poems] at Grist
* [http://www.flashpointmag.com/taggart.htm Interviewed] at Flash Point