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Anthony Hecht

アンソニー・イーヴァン・ヘクト

Anthony Evan Hecht

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1923-01-16 （New York City, New York, United States）
Died
2004-10-20 （Washington, D.C., United States） age 81
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
New York City (born and raised) → Annandale-on-Hudson (Bard College, burial site) → Washington, D.C. (later residence) → Occupied Japan (worked for Stars and Stripes)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Translator, Professor
Active Years
1947-2004
Influenced By
W. H. Auden, Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, John Crowe Ransom

Education

Bard College
English
Period: 1940年代前半
Year of Graduation: 1944
Country: United States
Discovered poetry as a freshman
Kenyon College
English (studied under John Crowe Ransom)
Degree: BA
Period: 1946頃
Country: United States
Studied under the G.I. Bill
Columbia University
English
Degree: MA
Period: 1940年代後半
Country: United States
Master's degree in English (year uncertain)
University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop)
Creative Writing / Workshop
Period: 1947
Country: United States
Taught briefly; left due to PTSD

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1968
Work: The Hard Hours
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Bollingen Prize
1983
Organization: Bollingen Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
National Medal of Arts
2004
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受賞（故人に授与）
Guggenheim Fellowship
1954
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
Rome Prize
1952
Organization: American Academy in Rome
Result: 受賞
Robert Frost Medal
2000
Organization: Poetry Society / Academy
Result: 受賞
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
1988
Organization: Ruth Lilly Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Summoning of Stones

1954 Poetry collection

Early collection showing his concern for form and learned linguistic control.

formalismclassical allusion

The Hard Hours

1967 Poetry collection

Major second collection addressing his WWII experiences, including liberation of a concentration camp; winner of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize.

warmemorytrauma

Millions of Strange Shadows

1977 Poetry collection

A mature collection weaving historical and literary allusions.

historical memoryliterary allusion

The Venetian Vespers

1979 Poetry collection

Contains poems reflecting interest in Italy and classical motifs.

Italyclassical motifs

The Transparent Man

1990 Poetry collection

A later collection mixing personal recollection with formal exploration.

self-reflectionformal exploration

Flight Among the Tombs

1998 Poetry collection

Late poems dealing with history, personal memory, and mortality.

mortalitymemory

Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes (translation)

1973 Translation (classical drama)

English translation of Aeschylus's classical tragedy (co-translated with Helen H. Bacon).

Greek tragedyclassical reinterpretation

Bibliography

  • A Summoning of Stones (1954)
  • The Hard Hours (1967)
  • Millions of Strange Shadows (1977)
  • The Venetian Vespers (1979)
  • Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes (translation, 1973)
  • The Transparent Man (1990)
  • Flight Among the Tombs (1998)
  • The Darkness and the Light (2001)
  • Collected Later Poems (2003)
  • Collected Poems of Anthony Hecht (2023, edited)

Translations by Author

  • Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes (1973, co-translator Helen H. Bacon)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
mastery of traditional forms (meter and form)erudite diction with frequent allusionprecise linguistic control
Recurring Motifs
World War II and Holocaust memoryclassical and literary allusiondeath and loss

Health

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
    第二次世界大戦後（1940年代後半〜）
    Suffered nightmares and neurotic symptoms stemming from wartime experiences; underwent long-term psychoanalysis while continuing to write.
  • Nervous breakdown (as described in biographies)
    1950年代〜1960年代にかけて（特に1959頃）
    Temporarily withdrew from teaching and writing and was hospitalized; the experience influenced his work.

Legacy

Anthony Hecht is a major figure in modern American poetry known for formal mastery and confronting historical trauma. His fusion of wartime experience and classical learning has been widely studied and translated; his name endures in prizes and critical attention.

Archives

  • Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Anthony Hecht papers, 1894-2005

Quotes

  • “The place, the suffering, the prisoners' accounts were beyond comprehension. For years after I would wake shrieking.”
    Source: Recollections quoted in interviews and obituaries (2004)

Trivia

  • The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize is awarded annually by Waywiser Press.
  • He was a classmate of Jack Kerouac at Horace Mann School.
  • He lived his later years in Washington, D.C., and is buried at Bard College cemetery.