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Jay Wright

ジェイ・ライト

Jei Raito

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-05-25 （Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Albuquerque, New Mexico (childhood) → San Pedro, California (teens) → Harlem, New York (while a student) → Bradford, Vermont (residence)

Career

Occupations
poet, playwright, essayist, educator, jazz bassist
Active Years
1960-2025
Affiliations
Yale University (poet in residence), University of Dundee (poet in residence), Talladega College (visiting), Tougaloo College (visiting), Texas Southern University (visiting)
Influenced By
Walt Whitman, T. S. Eliot, Hart Crane, Wilson Harris, Robert Hayden, Melvin B. Tolson

Education

University of California, Berkeley
Comparative Literature
Degree: BA
Period: 1957–1961
Year of Graduation: 1961
Country: United States
Rutgers University
Comparative Literature / English
Degree: MA
Period: 1964–1967（中断あり）
Year of Graduation: 1967
Country: United States
Left doctoral studies before completion

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
1986
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets
1996
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award
2001
Work: Transfigurations: Collected Poems
Organization: PEN New England
Result: 受賞
Bollingen Prize in Poetry
2005
Organization: Bollingen Prize committee
Result: 受賞（同賞の初のアフリカ系アメリカ人受賞者）
American Book Award (Lifetime Achievement)
2006
Category: 生涯業績
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Homecoming Singer

1971 Poetry 95 pages

A collection that blends autobiographical elements with religious and cultural motifs, attempting to bridge past and present. Includes poems such as "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting."

identityreligious experiencecross-cultural interactions (African and American)

Dimensions of History

1976 Poetry

A set of poems referencing history and myth, combining poetic experimentation with scholarly allusion.

historymythcultural intersection

The Double Invention of Komo

1980 Poetry

An extended poetic work dealing with language, ritual, and cultural invention, incorporating African and indigenous motifs.

ritualcultural reinterpretationlanguage

Explications/Interpretations

1984 Poetry

A collection characterized by difficulty and erudition, marked by experimental and symbolic use of language.

intertextualitysymbolismscholarly citation

Transfigurations: Collected Poems

2000 Poetry (collected poems)

A collected volume that assembles Wright's poems to date, traversing a wide range of subjects and forms; an important overview of his oeuvre.

compilationcross-culturalpoetic experimentation

Bibliography

  • Death as History (1967)
  • The Homecoming Singer (1971)
  • Soothsayers and Omens (1976)
  • Dimensions of History (1976)
  • The Double Invention of Komo (1980)
  • Explications/Interpretations (1984)
  • Selected Poems of Jay Wright (ed. Robert B. Stepto, 1987)
  • Elaine's Book (1988)
  • Boleros (1991)
  • Transfigurations: Collected Poems (2000)
  • Music's Mask and Measure (2007)
  • The Guide Signs: Book One and Book Two (2007)
  • Polynomials and pollen: parables, proverbs, paradigms, and praise for Lois (2008)
  • The Presentable Art of Reading Absence (2008)
  • Disorientations: Groundings (2013)
  • The Prime Anniversary (2019)
  • Thirteen Quintets for Lois (2021)
  • Postage Stamps (2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
erudite and often difficult poetic stylemontage-like, heavily referential dictionuse of jazz rhythms and musical expression
Recurring Motifs
African myth and ritualtransformation of Christian imagerymusic (especially jazz)history and memory

Legacy

Jay Wright is regarded as a major American poet whose work fuses scholarly allusion with cross-cultural imagination. Several of his books were cited by Harold Bloom as canonical, and he has received major prizes including the Bollingen Prize.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets (Fellow)

Archives

  • Library of Congress (audio recordings, etc.)
  • University library special collections (various holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • Inclusion in contemporary American poetry anthologies and subjects of academic symposia

Quotes

  • (Dante Micheaux) "unequivocally, the greatest living American poet."
    Source: The Best American Poetry blog (comment by Dante Micheaux) (2010)
  • Harold Bloom included five of Wright's books in his list related to the Western Canon.
    Source: Harold Bloom, The Western Canon (1994)

Trivia

  • Played minor-league baseball early in life (1953–1954).
  • Has performed as a jazz bassist since high school.
  • First African-American recipient of the Bollingen Prize (2005).
  • Spouse: Lois Wright.
  • Born in 1934; age 91 as of 2025.