Marie Ponsot (née Birmingham; April 6, 1921 – July 5, 2019) was an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

literary critic 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 discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, teacher, and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. Her awards and honors included the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, the daughter of Marie Candee, a public school teacher, and William Birmingham, an importer. She grew up in

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

along with her brother. She was already writing poems as a child, some of which were published in the ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

''. After graduating from St. Joseph's College for Women in Brooklyn, Ponsot earned her master's degree in seventeenth-century literature from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, she journeyed to Paris, where she met and married Claude Ponsot, a painter and student of

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as " tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, p ...

. The couple lived in Paris for three years, during which time they had a daughter. Her friend the American artist

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

published her first book of poetry, ''True Minds'', in 1956. Later, Ponsot and her husband relocated to the United States. The couple went on to have six sons before divorcing. She was left with seven children and she was not publishing her poetry. Upon returning from France, Ponsot worked as a freelance writer of radio and television scripts. She also translated 69 children's books from the French, including ''The Fables of La Fontaine''. She co-authored with Rosemary Deen two books about the fundamentals of writing, ''Beat Not the Poor Desk'' and ''Common Sense''. Ponsot taught a poetry thesis class, as well as writing classes, at the Poetry Center of the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

. She also taught at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, Beijing United University,

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

, and she served as an English professor at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

in New York, from which she retired in 1991. She was the 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 outreach ...

from 2010 to 2014. Ponsot lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

until her death at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital on July 5, 2019. Ponsot was a mentor to many younger poets and writers.

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

wrote an essay in her honor for an event celebrating the 2009 publication of Ponsot's collection entitled ''Easy''. Poet Marilyn Hacker has described her as being "one of the major poets of her generation." Ponsot was also a lifelong friend and mentor to Hacker and science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany.

Awards

Ponsot authored several collections of poetry, including ''The Bird Catcher'' (1998), a finalist for the 1999

Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 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 outreac ...

and the winner of the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".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 federal ...

, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, The Robert Frost Poetry Award, the Shaughnessy Medal of the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

, the 2013 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and the 2015

Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry The Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry is an annual prize, administered by the ''Sewanee Review'' and the University of the South, awarded to a writer who has had a substantial and distinguished career. It was established through a beq ...

Selected bibliography

* ''True Minds'', City Lights Pocket Bookshop, (1956) * ''Admit Impediment'', Knopf, (1981) * ''The Green Dark'', Knopf, (1988) * ''The Bird Catcher'', Knopf, (1998) * ''Springing: New and Selected Poems'', A.A. Knopf, (2002) * * ''Collected Poems'', Knopf (2016) .

Translations

* *

Non-fiction

* *

References

External links

Marie Ponsot profile and poems at Academy of American Poets

Bomb Magazine interview by Benjamin Ivry with Marie Ponsot

Review of Marie Ponsot's book ''Easy'' by Stephen Burt. ''New York Times''. December 16, 2009. * Video clip. November 2, 2009. * Video clip. Breakout: Voices from Inside. A 200
PEN American Center
event.
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Marie Ponsot papers, 1931-2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsot, Marie 1921 births 2019 deaths American literary critics Women literary critics American women poets 20th-century American translators 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American translators 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers Writers from Brooklyn People from Jamaica, Queens St. Joseph's College (New York) alumni Columbia University alumni New York University faculty Columbia University faculty Queens College, City University of New York faculty American expatriates in France American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women academics American women critics