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Charles Olson

チャールズ・オルソン

Charles John Olson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1910-12-27 （Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.）
Died
1970-01-10 （New York City, U.S.） age 59
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Worcester, Massachusetts → Gloucester, Massachusetts → New York City, New York → Washington, D.C. → Key West, Florida → Buffalo, New York

Career

Occupations
poet, educator, scholar, essayist, public servant
Active Years
1932-1970
Affiliations
Black Mountain College, State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo), University of Connecticut (archives/research collections), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Influenced By
Herman Melville, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Alfred North Whitehead (philosophical influence)
Influenced
Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, Robert Duncan, Ed Dorn

Education

Wesleyan University
English / English
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1928-1932
Year of Graduation: 1932
Country: United States
Graduated Phi Beta Kappa; continued with M.A. and Melville research.
Wesleyan University
English / English
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1932-1933
Year of Graduation: 1933
Country: United States
Master's thesis on Herman Melville.
Harvard University
American Civilization (doctoral program) / American Studies
Period: 1936-1939
Country: United States
Completed coursework but did not finish dissertation; no degree conferred.

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
Work: Call Me Ishmael (research)
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Call Me Ishmael

1947 literary criticism

A study derived from Olson's M.A. thesis on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; bridges his scholarly work and poetic interests.

Melville studiesliterary history

Projective Verse

1950 essay / poetic theory

An essay advocating a poetics based on breath, open construction, and the visual presentation of the poem on the page.

projective versebreath-based metervisual poetics

The Distances

1960 poetry

A collection showing Olson's development in poetry, containing long poems and fragmentary images.

sense of placehistoricityindividual and community

The Maximus Poems

1953 epic / long poem

An epic centered on Gloucester, Massachusetts, weaving history, geography, and voice to explore communal ideals; Olson's major poetic project.

topography and placeAmerican historycommunity and self

Bibliography

  • Call Me Ishmael (1947)
  • Projective Verse (1950)
  • In Cold Hell, in Thicket (1953)
  • The Maximus Poems (multiple volumes, 1953–)
  • The Distances (1960)
  • Human Universe and Other Essays (1965)
  • Selected Writings (1966)

Adaptations

  • Documentary 'Polis Is This' (dir. Henry Ferrini)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
projective verse (breath-based metre)experimental visual-aural poetics emphasizing page layout
Recurring Motifs
Gloucester/Dogtown topographylayers of history and mytharchaeological perspectiveprocess-philosophy influences

Health

  • liver cancer
    1969-1970
    Heavy smoking and drinking contributed; surgery was planned but not carried out; died in 1970.

Legacy

Central figure of the Black Mountain poets and a bridge from modernism to postmodernism; his place-based epic work and poetics have had major influence on subsequent generations.

Archives

  • University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections (Charles Olson Research Collection)
  • Simon Fraser University Special Collections (Charles Olson records)

In Popular Culture

  • Henry Ferrini's documentary 'Polis Is This'

Quotes

  • I describe myself not so much as a poet as an 'archaeologist of morning.'
    Source: Mayan Letters and correspondence / essays

Trivia

  • Reported height approximately 204 cm (6 ft 8 in).
  • Participated in early psilocybin experiments under Timothy Leary in 1961.
  • Known to have used the term 'postmodern' in a 1951 letter to Robert Creeley.