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Dana Gioia

ダナ・ジョイア

Dana Gioia

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1950-12-24 （Hawthorne, California）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Catholicism
Residence History
Hawthorne, California → Los Angeles, California → New York (corporate career) → California (as writer and educator)

Career

Occupations
poet, literary critic, translator, essayist, arts advocate, university professor, business executive, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts
Active Years
1975-
Affiliations
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), University of Southern California (Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture), Johns Hopkins University (visiting professor), Sarah Lawrence College (visiting professor), Wesleyan University (visiting professor), Mercer University (visiting professor), Colorado College (visiting professor)
Influenced By
Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Fitzgerald, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot

Education

Stanford University
Degree: B.A.
Country: United States
First person in his family to attend college
Harvard University
Comparative Literature
Degree: M.A.
Country: United States
Studied with Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Fitzgerald
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Degree: M.B.A.
Country: United States
Worked in business while writing poetry

Awards

American Book Award
2002
Work: Interrogations at Noon
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Presidential Citizens Medal
2008
Organization: Office of the President of the United States
Result: 受賞
Laetare Medal
2010
Organization: University of Notre Dame
Result: 受賞
Poets' Prize
2016
Work: 99 Poems: New & Selected
Organization: Poets' Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Denise Levertov Award (Poetry)
2016
Organization: Image Journal
Result: 受賞
Walt Whitman Champion of Literacy Award
2017
Organization: Walt Whitman Birthplace Museum
Result: 受賞
California Poet Laureate
2015
Organization: State of California
Result: 任命
National Book Critics Circle, Finalist in Criticism
1992
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: ノミネート（ファイナリスト）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Daily Horoscope

1986 Poetry

Early collection mixing formal verse and free verse; drew attention for its use of rhyme and meter.

personal memoryformal vs. free verse

The Gods of Winter

1991 Poetry

Second collection containing poems written after the death of his first son; deals with mourning and loss.

lossfamily

Interrogations at Noon

2001 Poetry

Collection of original poems and translations; won the 2002 American Book Award.

personal reflectiontranslation and tradition

Pity the Beautiful

2012 Poetry

Return to poetry after NEA tenure; includes stark poems about illness and mortality.

deathillnessnarrative poems
Adaptations
  • [ballet-opera] Haunted (from Pity the Beautiful) (2019)

99 Poems: New & Selected

2016 Poetry (Selected)

A thematic survey of his career rather than chronological; won the Poets' Prize.

retrospectivethematic arrangement

Meet Me at the Lighthouse

2023 Poetry

Recent collection paying attention to his Mexican roots; includes poems recounting family history.

family historyethnic roots

Bibliography

  • Daily Horoscope (1986)
  • The Gods of Winter (1991)
  • Interrogations at Noon (2001)
  • Pity the Beautiful (2012)
  • 99 Poems: New & Selected (2016)
  • Meet Me at the Lighthouse (2023)
  • Can Poetry Matter? (essay, 1991)
  • Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture (2004)
  • Translation: Eugenio Montale's Motteti: Poems of Love (1990)

Adaptations

  • Opera 'Nosferatu' (Rimrock Opera and Opera Idaho, 2004)
  • Chamber opera 'Tony Caruso's Final Broadcast' (music by Paul Salerni, premiered in Los Angeles, 2008)
  • Opera 'The Three Feathers' (music by Lori Laitman, 2014)

Translations by Author

  • Translations of Eugenio Montale
  • Translations of Seneca the Younger

Translations of Works

  • Translations of his and others' works (e.g., Montale translations)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
mix of formal verse (rhyme and meter) and free verseclear, accessible diction
Recurring Motifs
loss and mourningfamily and Mexican rootsreligious/Catholic backgroundengagement with music and opera

Legacy

Known both for advocating a revival of formal verse and for public arts initiatives as NEA Chair. Served as California Poet Laureate and promoted literature across communities.

Archives

  • Amherst College Archives: Jack W. C. Hagstrom Collection of Dana Gioia bibliography papers

Quotes

  • American poetry now belongs to a subculture. No longer part of the mainstream of artistic and intellectual life, it has become the specialized occupation of a relatively small and isolated group.
    Source: Can Poetry Matter?, Atlantic Monthly (1991) (1991)

Trivia

  • Worked in business in New York while writing poetry nights and weekends; served as a vice president at General Foods and marketed Kool Aid.
  • Served as Chair of the NEA from 2003 to 2009 and initiated programs such as The Big Read and Poetry Out Loud.
  • Appointed California Poet Laureate in 2015 and became the first state laureate to visit all 58 counties during his tenure.
  • Brother Ted Gioia is a noted music and jazz writer.