Richard Ghormley Eberhart (April 5, 1904 – June 9, 2005) 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 wri ...

who published more than a dozen books of poetry and approximately twenty works in total. "Richard Eberhart emerged out of the 1930s as a modern stylist with romantic sensibilities." 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 ''Selected Poems, 1930–1965'' and the 1977

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

for ''Collected Poems, 1930–1976''. He was the grandfather of former

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general manager

Ben Cherington Benjamin P. Cherington (born July 14, 1974) is an American baseball executive serving as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) since November 2019. He previously served as the vice-president of baseball oper ...

Biography

Early years

Eberhart was born in 1904 in Austin, a small city in southeast

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He grew up on an estate of called Burr Oaks, since partitioned into hundreds of residential lots. He published a volume of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

called ''Burr Oaks'' in 1947, and many of his poems reflect his youth in rural America. Eberhart began college at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, but following his mother's death from

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in 1921—the event which prompted him to begin writing poetry—he transferred to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. After graduation he worked as a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

's hand, among other jobs, then studied at

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, where I.A. Richards encouraged him to continue writing poetry, and where he took a further degree. After serving as private tutor to the son of King Prajadhipok of

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in 1931–1932, Eberhart pursued graduate study for a year at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. During his time at Harvard, Eberhart met and spoke with T. S. Eliot. His first book of poetry, ''A Bravery of Earth'', was published in London in 1930. It reflected his experiences in Cambridge and his experience as a ship's hand. ''Reading the Spirit'', published in 1937, contains one of his best-known poems, "The Groundhog". He taught for eight years at the St. Mark's School (1933–1941), where Robert Lowell was one of his students. In 1941 he married Helen Butcher. They had two children. During World War II he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander and served in the

U.S. Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

; this experience led him to write another of his most celebrated poems, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment", the first three stanzas of which, are in effect a prayer: ::Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?'' ::''Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?'' ::''Is the eternal truth man's fighting soul'' ::''Wherein the Beast ravens in its own avidity?''

Career

In 1945, Eberhart published ''Poems: New and Selected'', containing "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment" and other poems written during his service including "Dam Neck, Virginia" and "World War". He also edited ''War and the Poet: An Anthology of Poetry Expressing Man's Reactions to the Present'' claiming to be the first collection of poems based on war. After the war, Eberhart worked for six years for his wife's family's floor wax company, the Butcher Polish Company. ''Burr Oaks'' was his first work published after the war in 1947 followed by ''Brotherhood of Men'' in 1949. In 1950 he was a founder of the Poets' Theatre in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. From the early 1950s until his retirement he dedicated himself to writing poems and teaching at institutions of higher education, including the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, Brown University, Swarthmore College,

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, Trinity College,

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

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 ...

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

, University of Florida, Wheaton College, St. Marks School,

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 ...

and

. He taught for 30 years at Dartmouth as professor of English and poet-in-residence, where he was known for his encouragement of young poets. Eberhart published ''Undercliff: Poems 1946–1953'' containing ''Fragment of New York'' in 1953. Eberhart wrote a number of dramatic works in the 1950s and early 1960s which were performed regionally. These works included ''The Apparition'', ''The Visionary Farms'', ''Triptych'', ''The Mad Musicians'' and ''Devils and Angels''. In 1962, these works were published as ''Collected Verse Works''. Eberhart was sent to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' to report on the

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poetry scene. Eberhart wrote a piece published in the September 2, 1956, ''New York Times Book Review'' entitled "West Coast Rhythms" that helped call national attention to the Beat generation, and especially to

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

as the author of ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...

'', which he called "the most remarkable poem of the young group." Ginsberg credited Eberhart's article with "breaking the ice" for the Beats in regard to getting them published."I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness ..."
(blog) December 2, 2011. Rauner Special Collections Library. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Eberhart a member of the Advisory Committee on the Arts for the National Cultural Centre in 1959. As well, Eberhart was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress for 1959–61, and was awarded a

Bollingen Prize The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement.

in 1962. In her memoir
Poetic License
Eberhart's daughter Gretchen Cherington accused him of sexual abuse. ''The Quarry: New Poems'' (1964) contained letters in verse to

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

and

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

as well as elegies, lyrics, character sketches, and monologues. ''Selected Poems, 1930–1965'' (1965) won the Pulitzer Prize. ''Collected Poems, 1930–1976'' (1976) won the National Book Award in 1977. Eberhart was

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

's Poet Laureate from 1979 to 1984, and was elected to 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, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

in 1982. He also won the

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

, the Harriet Monroe Memorial Award, and the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America.

Bibliography

* ''A Bravery of Earth'' 1930 * ''Reading the Spirit'' 1937 * ''Song and Idea'' 1942 * ''War and the Poet: An Anthology of Poetry Expressing Man's Attitudes to War from Ancient Times to the Present'' 1945 * ''Poems: New and Selected'' 1945 * ''Burr Oaks'' 1947 * ''Brotherhood of Men'' 1949 * ''Undercliff: Poems 1946–1953'' 1953 * ''Great Praises'' 1957 * ''Collected Verse Plays'' 1962 * ''The Quarry: New Poems'' 1964 * ''Selected Poems, 1930–1965'' (1965) winner of the Pulitzer Prize"Poetry"
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-04-07. * ''Shifts of Being'' 1968 *''Fields of Grace 1972'' * ''Collected Poems, 1930–1976: including 43 new poems'' (1976) winner of the National Book Award"National Book Awards – 1977"

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 acceptance speech by Eberhart and essay by Kiki Petrosino from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) * ''The Long Reach: New and Uncollected Works 1948–1984'' 1984 * ''New and Selected Poems: 1930–1990'' 1990

References

* Jahan Ramazani,

Richard Ellmann Richard David Ellmann, FBA (March 15, 1918 – May 13, 1987) was an American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats. He won the U.S. National Book Award for Nonfiction for ''Jame ...

, and Robert O'Clair, ''The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry'', 3rd ed., vol. 1: ''Modern Poetry'' (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2003), pp. 740–42.

External links