Howard Moss (January 22, 1922 – September 16, 1987) was an
American poet
The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I–J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
*George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942)
R
...
,
dramatist
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just
reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...
and
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 ...
. He was poetry editor of ''
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 ...
'' magazine from 1948 until his death and he won the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
in 1972 for ''Selected Poems''.
[
]
Biography
Moss was born in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. He attended the University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, where he won a Hopwood Award
The Hopwood Awards are a major scholarship program at the University of Michigan, founded by Avery Hopwood.
Under the terms of the will of Avery Hopwood, a prominent American dramatist and member of the class of 1905 of the University of Michigan ...
. He is credited with discovering a number of major American poets, including Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional poetry, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book ''Live or Die (book ...
and Amy Clampitt
Amy Clampitt (June 15, 1920 – September 10, 1994) was an American poet and author.
Life
Clampitt was born on June 15, 1920, of Quaker parents, and brought up in New Providence, Iowa. At nearby Grinnell College and later in the American Academy ...
. He also introduced the writer William Goyen to artist Joseph Glasco.
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...
and Chester Kallman co-wrote a famously concise clerihew in his honor:
;TO THE POETRY EDITOR OF THE NEW YORKER
:Is Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...
:Better than Noël
:Coward
Cowardice is a characteristic wherein excessive fear prevents an individual from taking a risk or facing danger. It is the opposite of courage. As a label, "cowardice" indicates a failure of character in the face of a challenge. One who succumb ...
,
:Howard?
According to Edmund White
Edmund Valentine White III (January 13, 1940 – June 3, 2025) was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. A pioneering figure in LGBTQ and especially gay literature after the Stonewall riots, he wrote with ra ...
, Moss was a closeted
''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...
homosexual, a notion exploited in White's thinly disguised roman à clef
A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This m ...
, ''The Farewell Symphony'', in which the character "Tom" is a prominent New York poetry editor;
Bibliography
Poetry
*''The Wound and the Weather'' (1946)
*''The Toy Fair'' (1954)
*''A Swimmer in the Air'' (1957)
*''A Winter Come, A Summer Gone: Poems, 1946–1960'' (1960)
*''Finding Them Lost and Other Poems'' (1965)
*''Second Nature'' (1968)
*''Selected Poems'' (1971) —shared the National Book Award for Poetry with Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...
, ''The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara''["National Book Awards – 1972"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...
. Retrieved 2012-04-07.
(With acceptance speech by Moss and essay by Scott Challener from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
*''Buried City: Poems'' (1975)
*''A Swim Off the Rocks -Light verse'' (1976)
*''Rules of Sleep'' (1984)
Plays
*''The Folding Green'' (1958)
*''The Oedipus Mah-Jongg Scandal'' (1968)
*''The Palace at 4 A.M.'' (1972)
Other
*''The Magic Lantern of Marcel Proust'' (1963)
*''Instant Lives & More'' (1972)
*''Whatever is Moving'' (1981)
Musical settings
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 ...
's ''King Midas: a cantata for voice(s) and piano on ten poems of Howard Moss'' (1961) is one of several settings of Moss's poetry by American composers. Allen Shearer
Allen Raymond Shearer (born October 5, 1943, in Seattle, Washington) is an American composer and baritone.
Life
Shearer’s early musical experiences were as a singer; the majority of his works are for the voice or voices, with a later emphasis ...
composed his cantata ''King Midas'' (1990) on the same set of poems with addition of ancient texts. Morten Lauridsen's ''A Winter Come'' (1967) is a setting of six poems of Howard Moss for high voice and piano, while 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 ...
's ''Nature Studies: Three Poems of Howard Moss''[Francis Thorne, ''Nature Studies'', Composers Recordings, CD 586] (1981) is for mezzo-soprano, flute and harp.
References
1922 births
1987 deaths
American magazine editors
American gay writers
National Book Award winners
Writers from New York City
University of Michigan alumni
20th-century American poets
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male poets
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
Hopwood Award winners
20th-century American LGBTQ people
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
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