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Carl Phillips

カール・フィリップス

Carl Phillips

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1959-07-23 （Everett, Washington, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Everett, Washington (birth) → Cape Cod, Massachusetts (settled during high school years) → St. Louis, Missouri (Washington University in St. Louis, faculty)

Career

Occupations
poet, professor, writer
Active Years
1986-
Affiliations
Washington University in St. Louis (Department of English)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (served as Chancellor)

Education

Harvard University
Degree: BA
Country: United States
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Degree: MA
Country: United States
Boston University
Degree: MA
Country: United States

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
2023
Work: Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
2002
Work: The Tether
Organization: Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards (Claremont Graduate University)
Result: 受賞
Jackson Poetry Prize
2021
Organization: Poets & Writers (Jackson Poetry Prize)
Result: 受賞
Lambda Literary Award (Poetry)
2001
Work: Pastoral
Organization: Lambda Literary
Result: 受賞
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Poetry)
2011
Work: Double Shadow
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: 受賞
Thom Gunn Award
2005
Work: The Rest of Love
Organization: Publishing group (Thom Gunn Award)
Result: 受賞
Witter Bynner Fellowship
1998
Organization: Witter Bynner Fellowship (U.S. program)
Result: 受賞
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets
2006
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
PEN Center USA Award
2016
Work: Reconnaissance
Organization: PEN Center USA
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

In the Blood

1992 Poetry

Debut collection exploring personal memory, experience, and a keen attention to language.

memoryidentityphysicality

Cortège

1995 Poetry

A mid-career collection dealing with mortality, loss, and ritual imagery; received critical acclaim.

lossdeathritual

Pastoral

2000 Poetry

A collection weaving spirituality, desire, and natural imagery; winner of a Lambda Literary Award (Poetry).

spiritualitydesirenature

The Tether

2001 Poetry

Explores relationships, bonds, and inner conflict; recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

relationshipsbondageintrospection

Double Shadow

2011 Poetry

A mature collection about light, shadow, and duality; a National Book Award finalist and winner of the LA Times Book Prize (Poetry).

dualitylight and shadowmemory

Reconnaissance

2015 Poetry

A book of probing interior investigations and responses to the external world; winner of the Lambda Literary Award and a PEN Center USA Award.

inner explorationresponsefaith

Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020

2022 Poetry / Selected Poems

A selected and new poems volume spanning 2007–2020; praised for its self-reckoning and transformation, awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize.

self-reckoningtransformationmemory

Bibliography

  • In the Blood (1992)
  • Cortège (1995)
  • From the Devotions (1998)
  • Pastoral (2000)
  • The Tether (2001)
  • Rock Harbor (2002)
  • The Rest of Love (2004)
  • Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Art and Life of Poetry (2004)
  • Riding Westward: Poems (2006)
  • Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986–2006 (2007)
  • Speak Low (2009)
  • Double Shadow (2011)
  • Silverchest (2013)
  • The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination (2014)
  • Reconnaissance (2015)
  • Wild Is the Wind (2018)
  • Pale Colors in a Tall Field (2020)
  • Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020 (2022)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical and meditative styleprecise attention to languageformal awareness with flexible prosody
Recurring Motifs
nature and landscapereligious/spiritual imagerydesire and solitudelight and shadow, duality

Legacy

Carl Phillips is regarded as one of contemporary America's leading poets, noted for deep introspection and refined linguistic sensibility. He has received and been nominated for multiple major poetry awards and gained heightened international attention after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Then the War.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets

Archives

  • Archives related to the English Department, Washington University in St. Louis (holds relevant materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Featured and reviewed in major outlets such as The Globe and Mail and The New Yorker

Quotes

  • "Then the War is a luminous testimony to the power of self-reckoning and to Carl Phillips as an ever-changing, necessary voice in contemporary poetry."
    Source: Publisher (Macmillan) description (2022)

Trivia

  • Taught high-school Latin for eight years.
  • Partners: Doug Macomber (1992–2007), Reston Allen (2013–present).
  • Four-time finalist for the National Book Award.
  • Served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2008 to 2012.