Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. He won the
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...
[ for his 1982 collection, ''Selected Poems'' and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright.][ From 1989 to 1993, he was ]poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
for the state of Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
.
An admitted follower of Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
, Kinnell rejects the idea of seeking fulfillment by escaping into the imaginary world. His best-loved and most anthologized poems are "St. Francis and the Sow", "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps", and "Wait".
Biography
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Kinnell said that as a youth he was turned on to poetry by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
and Emily Dickinson
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.
Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
, 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
Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fall ...
. He has also described himself as an introvert during his childhood.
Kinnell studied at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, graduating in 1948 alongside friend and fellow poet W.S. Merwin
William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was the ...
. He received his master of arts degree from the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of ...
. He traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East, and went to Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
. During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
in the United States caught his attention. Upon returning to the US, he joined CORE (Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...
) and worked on voter registration and workplace integration in Hammond, Louisiana
Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States, located east of Baton Rouge and northwest of New Orleans. Its population was 20,019 in the 2010 U.S. census, and 21,359 at the 2020 population estimates program. Hamm ...
. This effort got him arrested. In 1968, he signed the " Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Kinnell draws upon both his involvement with the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
and his experiences protesting against the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
in his book-long poem ''The Book of Nightmares''.
Kinnell has been published in Beloit Poetry Journal
The ''Beloit Poetry Journal'' is an American poetry magazine established in 1950 at Beloit College.[poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...]
for the state of Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
.[Smith College press release]
/ref>
Kinnell was the Erich Maria Remarque
Erich Maria Remarque (, ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during World ...
Professor of Creative Writing at New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
and a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets. As of 2011 he was retired and resided at his home in Vermont[ until his death in October 2014 from leukemia.]
Work
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."Poetry Archive
/ref>
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).
Kinnell wrote two elegies for his close friend, the poet James Wright, upon the latter's death in 1980. They appear in ''From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright''.
Kinnell’s poem ''The Correspondence-School Instructor Says Goodbye to His Poetry Students'' was excerpted in Delia Owens’ novel ''Where the Crawdads Sing'', as a goodbye note left by the protagonist’s mother who left her at a young age.
Personal
Kinnell married Inés Delgado de Torres, a Spanish translator, in 1965 — naming their two children, Fergus and Maud, after figures in Yeats. They divorced after 20 years of marriage. He married Barbara Kammer Bristol in 1997. He had two grandchildren.
Death
Kinnell died October 28, 2014 at his home in Sheffield, Vermont at the age of 87. The cause was leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
according to his wife, Barbara K. Bristol.
Bibliography
Poetry
Collections
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* "Saint Francis and the Sow" No Mountains Poetry Project
The No Mountains Poetry Project was a unique and popular interdisciplinary program of workshops, live readings, recordings, and letterpress broadsides located in Evanston, Illinois during the 1970s. Its objectives were to bring poets and writers ...
Broadside Series (1976)
* ''Walking Down the Stairs'' (a collection of interviews) (1978).
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* —winner of the National Book Award["National Book Awards - 1983"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
(With essay by Eric Smith from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) and Pulitzer Prize["Poetry"]
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
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* —finalist for the National Book Award["National Book Awards - 2000"]
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
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;Translated collections
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Poems
Novels
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References
Further reading
*Conesa-Sevilla, J. (2008). ''Dreaming With Bear (Kinnell's Poem).'' Ecopsychology Symposium at the 25th Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Montreal, July 11.
External links
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* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070528084815/http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/11/14_edgerlym_galwaykinnell/ "Interview with Galway Kinnell by Mike Edgerly on Minnesota Public Radio"MPR Interview
"The loveliness of pigs: Galway Kinnell searches for the real beauty"
interview and poem "Daybreak" on the ''Christian Science Monitor''
interview and poem "The Fundamental Project of Technology"
for the WGBH series, New Television Workshop
for the WGBH series,
New Television Workshop
Profile and poems at Academy of American Poets
1988 Whiting Writers' Award Keynote Speech
short biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinnell, Galway
1927 births
2014 deaths
American tax resisters
French–English translators
German–English translators
Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty
MacArthur Fellows
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
National Book Award winners
The New Yorker people
Poets from Rhode Island
Poets from Vermont
Poets Laureate of Vermont
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners
Sarah Lawrence College faculty
Wilbraham & Monson Academy alumni
20th-century American poets
21st-century American poets
American male poets
20th-century translators
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Fulbright alumni