Stanley Jasspon Kunitz (; July 28, 1905May 14, 2006) was an American poet. He was appointed
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.
Biography
Kunitz was born in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
, the youngest of three children, to Yetta Helen (''née'' Jasspon) and Solomon Z. Kunitz,
both of Jewish Russian Lithuanian descent.
Six weeks before Stanley's birth, his father, who was a dressmaker,
[ went bankrupt and committed ]suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
in Elm Park in Worcester by drinking carbolic acid
Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire.
The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bon ...
. His mother removed every trace of Kunitz's father from the household.[ The death of his father would be a powerful influence on Kunitz's life.]
Kunitz and his two older sisters, Sarah and Sophia, were raised by his mother, who had made her way from Yashwen, Kovno, Lithuania by herself in 1890, and opened a dry goods
Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and Common ...
store. She remarried in 1910 to Mark Dine The couple filed for bankruptcy in 1912 and then were indicted by the U.S. District Court for concealing assets. They pleaded guilty and turned over USD$10,500 to the trustees. Mark Dine died when Kunitz was fourteen;[ he had a heart attack while hanging curtains.
At fifteen, Kunitz moved out of the house and became a butcher's assistant.][ Later he got a job as a cub reporter on ''The Worcester Telegram'', where continued working during his summer vacations from college.][
Kunitz graduated '']summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'' in 1926 from Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
with an English major and a philosophy minor,[ and then earned a ]master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in English from Harvard the following year. He wanted to continue his studies for a doctorate degree, but was told by the university that the Anglo-Saxon students would not like to be taught by a Jew.[
After Harvard, he worked as a reporter for ''The Worcester Telegram'', and as editor for the H. W. Wilson Company in New York City. He then founded and edited '' Wilson Library Bulletin'' and started the ''Author Biographical Studies''.][ Kunitz married Helen Pearce in 1930;][ they divorced in 1937.][Orr. p.xxviii.] In 1935 he moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania and befriended Theodore Roethke.[ He married Eleanor Evans in 1939; they had a daughter Gretchen in 1950.][ Kunitz divorced Eleanor in 1958.][Orr. p.xxix.]
At Wilson Company, Kunitz served as co-editor for ''Twentieth Century Authors'', among other reference works. In 1931, as Dilly Tante, he edited ''Living Authors, a Book of Biographies''. His poems began to appear in ''Poetry'', '' Commonweal'', ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', ''The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', and '' The Dial''.
During World War II, he was drafted into the Army
An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
in 1943 as a conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
, and after undergoing basic training three times, served as a noncombatant at Gravely Point, Washington in the Air Transport Command in charge of information and education. He refused a commission
In-Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
and was discharged with the rank of staff sergeant
Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services.
History of title
In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...
.[
After the war, he began a peripatetic teaching career at ]Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932, (1946–1949), taking over from Roethke.[ He subsequently taught at the ]State University of New York at Potsdam
The State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam or simply Potsdam) is a public college in Potsdam (village), New York, Potsdam, New York, United States. Founded in 1816, it is the northernmost member of the State University of New Yo ...
(then the New York State Teachers College at Potsdam) as a full professor (1949–1950; summer sessions through 1954), the New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...
(lecturer; 1950-1957), the University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
(visiting professor; 1955-1956), Queens College (visiting professor; 1956–1957), 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 ...
(poet-in-residence; 1958-1959) and Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
(lecturer in the School of General Studies; 1963–1966) before spending 18 years as an adjunct professor of writing at Columbia's School of the Arts (1967–1985). Throughout this period, he also held visiting appointments at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
(1970), Rutgers University–Camden
Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1926 as the South Jersey Law ...
(1974), Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
(1978) and Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
(1981).
After his divorce from Eleanor, he married the painter and poet Elise Asher in 1958. His marriage to Asher led to friendships with artists like Philip Guston and Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...
.[
Kunitz's poetry won wide praise for its profundity and quality. He was the New York State Poet Laureate from 1987 to 1989. He continued to write and publish until his centenary year, as late as 2005. Many consider that his poetry's ]symbol
A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...
ism is influenced significantly by the work of Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...
. Kunitz influenced many 20th-century poets, including James Wright, Mark Doty, Louise Glück, Joan Hutton Landis, and Carolyn Kizer.
For most of his life, Kunitz divided his time between New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...
. He enjoyed gardening and maintained one of the most impressive seaside gardens in Provincetown. There he also founded Fine Arts Work Center, where he was a mainstay of the literary community, as he was of Poets House in Manhattan.
He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award in Sherborn, Massachusetts in October 1998 for his contribution to the liberation of the human spirit through his poetry.
He died in 2006 at his home in Manhattan. He had previously come close to death, and reflected on the experience in his last book, a collection of essays, ''The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden''.
Poetry
Kunitz's first collection of poems, ''Intellectual Things,'' was published in 1930. His second volume of poems, ''Passport to the War'', was published fourteen years later; the book went largely unnoticed, although it featured some of Kunitz's best-known poems, and soon fell out of print. Kunitz's confidence was not in the best of shape when, in 1959, he had trouble finding a publisher for his third book, ''Selected Poems: 1928-1958.'' Despite this unflattering experience, the book, eventually published by Little Brown, received 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. The award came five years after the first Pulitzers were awarded in other categories; Joseph Pulitzer's will had not ment ...
.
His next volume of poems would not appear until 1971, but Kunitz remained busy through the 1960s editing reference books and translating Russian poets. When twelve years later ''The Testing Tree'' appeared, Kunitz's style was radically transformed from the highly intellectual and philosophical musings of his earlier work to more deeply personal yet disciplined narratives; moreover, his lines shifted from iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter ( ) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in each line. Meter is measured in small groups of syllables called feet. "Iambi ...
to a freer prosody based on instinct and breath—usually resulting in shorter stressed lines of three or four beats.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, he became one of the most treasured and distinctive voices in American poetry. His collection ''Passing Through: The Later Poems'' won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1995.[ Kunitz received many other honors, including a ]National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
, the Bollingen Prize for a lifetime achievement in poetry, the Robert Frost Medal, and Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
's Centennial Medal. He served two terms as Consultant on Poetry for the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
(the precursor title to Poet Laureate), one term as Poet Laureate of the United States, and one term as the State Poet of New York. He founded the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...
, and Poets House 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 ...
. Kunitz also acted as a judge for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition.
Library Bill of Rights
Kunitz served as editor of the '' Wilson Library Bulletin'' from 1928 to 1943. An outspoken critic of censorship, in his capacity as editor, he targeted his criticism at librarians who did not actively oppose it. He published an article in 1938 by Bernard Berelson
Bernard Reuben Berelson (1912–1979) was an American behavioral scientist, known for his work on communication and mass media.
He was a leading proponent of the broad idea of the "behavioral sciences", a field he saw as including areas such as ...
entitled "The Myth of Library Impartiality". This article led Forrest Spaulding and the Des Moines Public Library to draft the Library Bill of Rights, which was later adopted by the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world.
History 19th century ...
and continues to serve as the cornerstone document on intellectual freedom in libraries.[Lingo, M. (2003). Forbidden fruit: The banning of 'The Grapes of Wrath' in the Kern County Free Library. ''Libraries & Culture, 4'', 351. doi:10.2307/25549126]
Awards and honors
*2006 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award, ''The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden''
Bibliography
Poetry
Other writing and interviews
*''Conversations with Stanley Kunitz'' (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, Literary Conversations Series, 11/2013), Edited by Kent P. Ljungquist
* ''A Kind of Order, A Kind of Folly: Essays and Conversations
* ''Interviews and Encounters with Stanley Kunitz'' (Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY: The Sheep Meadow Press, 1995), Edited by Stanley Moss
*''A Feast of Losses: Yetta Dine and Her Son, the Poet Stanley Kunitz'' (Cambridge, MA: TidePool Press, 2023, ISBN 978-1-7367720-6-5), Author Judith Ferrara
As editor, translator, or co-translator
* ''The Essential Blake''
* ''Orchard Lamps'' by Ivan Drach
* ''Story under full sail'' by Andrei Voznesensky
* ''Poems of John Keats''
* ''Poems of Akhmatova'' by Max Hayward
References
External links
The Stanley Kunitz Papers
- Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
.
Poems by Stanley Kunitz
- PoetryFoundation.org.
Stanley Kunitz
- The Academy of American Poets (c/o Poets.org).
. - The Worcester Writers Project. - Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1865, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now h ...
(WPI).
*
Stanley Kunitz: "Three Small Parables for My Poet Friends"
. - Oxford University Press blog.
- DocumentaryWorld.com.
Stanley Kunitz "Order and Disorder in Poetry and the Visual Arts" The Baltimore Museum of Art: Baltimore, Maryland, 1963
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunitz, Stanley
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