Allen R. Grossman (January 7, 1932 – June 27, 2014) was a noted 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Biography

Born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

in 1932,Bruce Weber (June 29, 2014)
Allen Grossman, A Poet's Poet, and Scholar, dies at 82
The New York Times, Retrieved June 30, 2014 Grossman was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, graduating with an MA in 1956 after several interruptions. He went on to receive a

PhD 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 ...

from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in 1960, where he remained a professor until 1991. In 1991, he became the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

where until 2005 he taught in the English Department, primarily focusing on

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

. He continued to write after his retirement from teaching. Grossman was raised

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. Grossman's first marriage ended in divorce; afterwards he married novelist Judith Grossman, and they stayed married until his death. His children are Jonathan Grossman and Adam Grossman from the first marriage, and Bathsheba Grossman,

Austin Grossman Austin Seth Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American author and video game designer. He has contributed to ''The New York Times'' and has written for a number of video games, most notably '' Deus Ex'' and '' Dishonored''. Life Grossman was ...

, and

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolo ...

from the second. On November 11, 2006, on the occasion of his retirement, several friends, colleagues, and students of Grossman held a joint reading in his honor. These included

Michael Fried Michael Martin Fried (born April 12, 1939 in New York City) is a modernist art critic and art historian. He studied at Princeton University and Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He is the J.R. Herbert Boone ...

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

Ha Jin Jin Xuefei (; born February 21, 1956) is a Chinese American poet and novelist who uses the pen name Ha Jin (). The name ''Ha'' comes from his favorite city, Harbin. His poetry is associated with the Misty Poetry movement. Early life, educatio ...

, Mark Halliday,

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of ...

, Susan Stewart and

Frank Bidart Frank Bidart (born May 27, 1939, Bakersfield, CA) is an American academic and poet, and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Biography Bidart is a native of California and considered a career in acting or directing when he was young. In 19 ...

. The event culminated with a reading by Grossman of poetry from his latest book of poems, ''Descartes' Loneliness''. Grossman died of complications from Alzheimer's at a nursing home in Chelsea, Mass. on June 27, 2014. He was 82.

Publications

Poetry

''Wash Day'', Descartes' Loneliness, Allen Grossman, Poetry Daily
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091228080513/http://www.bu.edu/agni/poetry/print/2002/56-grossman.html ''Dust'', Allen Grossman, AGNI Online

Books

*''A Harlot's Hire'', (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Boars Head Press, 1959). *''The Recluse'', (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Pym-Randall Press, 1965). *''And The Dew Lay All Night Upon My Branch'', (Lexington, Mass.: Aleph Press, 1974). *''The Woman on the Bridge over the Chicago River'', (New York: New Directions, 1979). *''Of The Great House'', (New York: New Directions, 1982) *''The Bright Nails Scattered on the Ground'', (New York: New Directions, 1986).
''The Ether Dome and Other Poems New and Selected''
(1979–1990) (New York: New Directions, Fall 1991). *''The Song of the Lord'', (Watershed, 1991). An audiotape where the author reads poems selected from The Ether Dome. *''The Philosopher's Window and Other Poems'' (New York: New Directions, 1995). *''How to Do Things with Tears'', (New York: New Directions, 2001). *''Sweet Youth'', (New York: New Directions, 2002). *''Descartes' Loneliness'', (New York: New Directions, 2007) *''True-Love: Essays on Poetry and Valuing'', (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2009)

Selected Prose

*Poetic Knowledge in the Early Yeats, a study of The Wind Among the Reeds (University of Virginia Press, 1969) *The Sighted Singer Two Works on Poetry (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992) Contains (Part II): "Summa Lyrica: A Primer of the Common Places in Speculative Poetics". *The Long Schoolroom: Lessons in the Bitter Logic of the Poetic Principle (University of Michigan Press, 1997). *"The Passion of Laocoon: Warfare of the Religious Against the Poetic Institution" in Western Humanities Review, Vol LVI Number 2 Fall 2002, pp. 30–80. *"Wordworth's 'The Solitary Reaper': Notes on Poiesis, Pastoral, and Institution", TriQuarterly 116, Summer 2003.

Prizes and awards

* Garrison Award for Poetry (195?) *Prize of the American Academy of Poetry (195?) * A. B. Cohen Award for Teaching (1965) *The

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

(1975, 1987, 1990) *

Distinguished Service Award (1982) *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

(1982) *

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 ...

Fellowship (1985) *

CASE Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type Containers * Case (goods), a package of relate ...

Massachusetts State Professor of the Year (1987) * Sara Teasdale Memorial Prize in Poetry (1987) *Sheaffer-PEN/New England Award for Literary Distinction (1988) *

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

(1989) *

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c) organization, 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the N ...

Award nominee (1992) *

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 ...

Fellow (1993) *

Bollingen Prize The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet. Every two years, the award recognizes a poet for best new volume of work or lifetime achievement. It is awarded without nominations or submissions by the Beinecke R ...

(2009)

Legacy

Ben Lerner Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. The recipient of fellowships from the Fulbright, Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundations, Lerner has been a finalist for the National Book Award for P ...

discusses Grossman's impact on poetics at length in ''The Hatred of Poetry'' and references Grossman's death, ostensibly contemporaneously, on p. 78.

Criticism

References

External links

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20081021095307/http://english.jhu.edu/profiles/agrossman.html *http://www.allengrossman.com *http://reginaldshepherd.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-allen-grossman.html
''Poetry readings and lectures at The University of Chicago'', 18 Mar 2005, podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Allen 1932 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American Jews Jewish American poets MacArthur Fellows American male poets Johns Hopkins University faculty Brandeis University alumni Harvard University alumni Brandeis University faculty Writers from Minneapolis Bollingen Prize recipients 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American Jews