J. D. "Sandy" McClatchy (August 12, 1945 – April 10, 2018) was an American poet,

opera librettist Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. He was editor of the ''

Yale Review ''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on ...

'' and president of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

Life

McClatchy was born Joseph Donald McClatchy Jr., in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr (, from Welsh language, Welsh for 'big hill') is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania, U.S. ...

, in 1945. He was educated at Georgetown and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, from which he received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1974. He lived in

Stonington, Connecticut Stonington is a town located on Long Island Sound in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The municipal limits of the town include the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pa ...

, and New York. His husband was

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for Cover art, book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by Am ...

. His partner from 1977 to 1989 was poet

Alfred Corn Alfred Corn (born August 14, 1943) is an American poet and essayist. Early life Alfred Corn was born in Bainbridge, Georgia in 1943 and raised in Valdosta, Georgia. Corn graduated from Emory University in 1965 with a B.A. in French literature ...

Career

McClatchy's poetic work was wide-ranging. He authored six collections of poetry, the fifth of which, ''Hazmat'', was a finalist for the 2003

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

. He wrote texts for musical settings, including ten opera libretti, for such composers as Michael Dellaira,

Elliot Goldenthal Elliot Goldenthal (born May 2, 1954) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend variou ...

Daron Hagen Daron Aric Hagen ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. Biography Early life Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in New Berlin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Hagen was the youngest of ...

Lowell Liebermann Lowell Liebermann (born February 22, 1961, in New York City) is an American composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1. He studied at the Juilliar ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in t ...

Tobias Picker Tobias Picker (born July 18, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, and Conductor (music), conductor, noted for his orchestral works ''Old and Lost Rivers'', ''Keys To The City (orchestral work), Keys To The City'', and ''The Encantadas (orches ...

Bernard Rands Bernard Rands (born 2 March 1934 in Sheffield, England) is a British and American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna ...

Ned Rorem Ned Miller Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and a writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was considered the leading American of his time writing i ...

, Bruce Saylor,

William Schuman William Howard Schuman (August 4, 1910February 15, 1992) was an American composer and arts administrator. Life Schuman was born into a Jewish family in Manhattan, New York City, son of Samuel and Rachel Schuman. He was named after the 27th U.S. ...

and

Francis Thorne Francis Thorne (June 23, 1922 – March 7, 2017) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and grandson of the writer Gustav Kobbé. Life Francis Burritt Thorne, Jr. was born in Bay Shore, New York. His father was a ragtime piani ...

. His honors include an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1991). He also was one of the New York Public Literary Lions, and received the 2000 Connecticut Governor's Arts Award. McClatchy was affiliated with

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he was an adjunct professor, fellow of

Jonathan Edwards College Jonathan Edwards College (informally JE) is a residential college at Yale University. It is named for theologian and minister Jonathan Edwards, a 1720 graduate of Yale College. JE's residential quadrangle was the first to be completed in Yale's ...

, and editor of ''

The Yale Review ''The Yale Review'' is the oldest literary journal in the United States. It is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It was founded in 1819 as ''The Christian Spectator'' to support Evangelicalism. Over time it began to publish more on ...

''. In 1999, he was elected into the membership of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in January 2009 he was elected its president. He previously served as chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

from 1996 until 2003. In addition to these appointments, he was a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, and the

. When he was given an Award in Literature by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1991, the citation read:

J. D. McClatchy is a poet who has emerged into highly distinctive achievement in his third collection, The Rest of the Way. Formally a master, with enormous technical skills, McClatchy writes with an authentic blend of cognitive force and a savage emotional intensity, brilliantly restrained by his care for firm rhetorical control. His increasingly complex sense of our historical overdeterminations is complemented by his concern for adjusting the balance between his own poems and tradition. It may be that no more eloquent poet will emerge in his American generation.

In addition to being

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

Anthony Hecht Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the Second World War, in which he fought, an ...

and

Mona Van Duyn Mona Jane Van Duyn (May 9, 1921 – December 2, 2004) was an American poet. She was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1992. Biography Early years Van Duyn was born May 9, 1921, in Waterloo, Iowa."Van Duyn, Mona (1921–2004)." '' Dictio ...

, McClatchy was also, along with

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

professor and poet Stephen Yenser, co-executor for the

literary estate The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed wo ...

James Merrill James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for '' Divine Comedies.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyri ...

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections *''Scenes from Another Life'' (Braziller, 1981) *''Stars Principal'' (Macmillan, 1986) *''The Rest of the Way'' (Knopf, 1992) *''Ten Commandments'' (Random House, 120 pages, December 1999) *''Hazmat'' (Alfred A. Knopf: Random House, 96 pages, April 2004) *''Division of Spoils: Selected Poems'' (Arc, 2003) *''Mercury Dressing: Poems'' (Knopf, 2009) *''Seven Mozart Librettos: A Verse Translation'' (W. W. Norton, 2010) *''Plundered Hearts: New and Selected Poems'' (Knopf, 2016) ;Anthologies (edited) *''The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry'' (Random House, 654 pages, May 1996) *''Christmas Poems'' ed.

John Hollander John Hollander (October 28, 1929 – August 17, 2013) was an American poet and literary critic. At the time of his death, he was Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University, having previously taught at Connecticut College, Hunter C ...

and J. D. McClatchy (Random House, cloth, 256 pages, October 1999) *''Love Speaks Its Name: Gay and Lesbian Love Poems'' (Random House, 256 pages, May 2001) *''Poems of the Sea'' (Random House, 256 pages, November 2001) *''The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry'', 2nd ed. (Vintage Books: Random House, 736 pages, April 2003) ;Poems * "Dirty snow", ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', February 22, 2016

Non-fiction

*''White Paper'' (Columbia University Press, 1989) *''Twenty Questions'' (Columbia University Press, 200 pages, February 1998) *''American Writers at Home'', photographs by Erica Lennard (Library of America, 240 pages, October 2004) ;As editor * ''Poets on Painters: Essays on the Art of Painting by Twentieth-Century Poets'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) *''Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings'' (Library of America, 854 pages, August 2000) *''Bright Pages: Yale Writers, 1701–2001'' (Yale University Press, 540 pages, April 2001) *''Collected Poems by James Merrill'' ed. Stephen Yenser and J. D. McClatchy (Alfred A. Knopf: Random House, 912 pages, November 2002) *''Allen Ginsberg: The Voice of the Poet'' (Random House, March 2004) *''Frank O'Hara: The Voice of the Poet'' (Random House, March 2004) *''W. H. Auden: The Voice of the Poet'' (Random House, March 2004) *''Horace, the Odes: New Translations by Contemporary Poets by Horace'', ed. J. D. McClatchy and Nicholas Jenkins (Princeton University Press, 320 pages, April 2005) *''Poets of the Civil War'' (Library of America, 250 pages, April 2005) *''The Changing Light at Sandover: A Poem by James Merrill'', ed. J. D. McClatchy and Stephen Yenser (Alfred A. Knopf: Random House, 608 pages, February 2006) *''Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and Writings on Theater'' (Library of America, 800 pages, March 2007) *''Thornton Wilder: The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Other Novels 1926–1948'' (Library of America, 750 pages, September 2009) *''Thornton Wilder: The Eighth Day, Theophilus North, Autobiographical Writings'' (Library of America, 864 pages, February 2012) *''Sweet Theft: A Poet's Commonplace Book'' (Counterpoint, 256 pages, April 2016)

References

External links

*
Profile at Yale University
* * J. D. McClatchy Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:McClatchy, J. D. 1945 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American poets 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American poets American LGBTQ poets American gay writers American male poets American opera librettists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Formalist poets Gay poets LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry winners National Endowment for the Arts Fellows The New Yorker people People from Stonington, Connecticut Poets from Connecticut Presidents of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Yale University faculty