John Taggart (born 1942) is 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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 ...

Biography

He was born in Guthrie Center,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. He graduated with honors in 1965 from

Earlham College Earlham College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quake ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, earning a B.A. in English Literature and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. In 1966 he received a M.A. in English Literature and

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and in 1974 he completed a Ph.D. in the Humanities

Interdisciplinary Studies Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

Program at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Taggart was the editor and publisher of ''Maps'', an acclaimed literary magazine. In 1978, edited an issue of "Truck" devoted to the work of

Theodore Enslin Theodore Vernon Enslin (March 25, 1925 – November 21, 2011) was an American poet associated with Cid Corman's ''Origin'' and press. He is widely regarded as one of the most musical of American avant-garde poets. Enslin was born in Chester, Penn ...

. His work has been widely published and anthologized, and as far back as 1978 his unique style was exerting an influence over his peers, poets such as

Rachel Blau DuPlessis Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born December 14, 1941) is an American poet and essayist, known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. Her work has been widely anthologized. Early life DuPlessis w ...

and Gil Ott. For many years he was Professor of English and Director of the

Interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

Arts Program at

Shippensburg University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Ship or SU) is a public university in the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania area. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers' college ...

; he retired in 2001.

Overview

Taggart's approach to the poem is strongly rooted in Objectivist poetics, particularly the works of

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

and

George Oppen George Oppen (April 24, 1908 – July 7, 1984) was an American poet, best known as one of the members of the Objectivist group of poets. He abandoned poetry in the 1930s for political activism and moved to Mexico in 1950 to avoid the attentions o ...

. Unlike most others of his generation whose poetries sprung from similar influences, Taggart stayed away from, on the one hand, the mainstream variations of the neatly packaged imagistic poem, and, on the other hand, the aggressively language-centered writing that foregrounded the materiality of text over the voice of the author.Se
Burt Kimmelman's "Quantum Syntax: John Taggart's Discrete Serialism"
which discusses some of the ways in which Taggart's work eludes easy classification.

Works

Poetry *To Construct a Clock (Elizabeth Press, 1971) *The Pyramid Is Pure Crystal (Elizabeth Press, 1974) * Prism and the Pine Twig (Elizabeth Press, 1977)

(Membrane, 1979) *Peace On Earth (Turtle Island, 1981)

(Membrane, 1983) *Loop (Sun and Moon, 1991) *Standing Wave (Lost Roads, 1993) *When the Saints (Talisman House, 1999) *Pastorelles (Flood Editions, 2004) *Crosses: Poems 1992-1998 (Stop Press, 2006) *There Are Birds (Flood Editions, 2008) *Is Music: Selected Poems (

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 by Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, and Jim Gautney, specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper C ...

, 2010) Prose *Remaining in Light: Ant Meditations on a Painting by Edward Hopper (1993, SUNY Press) *Songs of Degrees: Essays on Contemporary Poetry and Poetics (1994, University Alabama Press)

References

Sources

For further research see:
The John Taggart Papers, 1962–2002
at UC–San Diego

at

The John Taggart (re: Maps) Archive
at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

John Taggart Papers
at

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Biography

Overview

Works

References

Sources

External links