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Lisel Mueller

リゼル・ミューラー

Lisel Mueller

Aliases: Elisabeth Neumann
Pen Names: Lisel（Name used after arriving in the United States）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1924-02-08 （Hamburg, Germany）
Died
2020-02-21 （Chicago, Illinois, U.S.） age 96
Nationality
Germany, United States
Languages
German, English
Residence History
Hamburg (birth) → Evansville, Indiana (education) → Lake Forest, Illinois (residence) → Chicago, Illinois (later residence) → Plainfield, Vermont (teaching)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Translator, Academic teacher
Active Years
1950-2001
Affiliations
University of Chicago (teaching), Elmhurst College (teaching), Goddard College (teaching), Warren Wilson College (teaching)
Influenced By
Brothers Grimm (folk tales), Bertolt Brecht, Marie Luise Kaschnitz (close through translation work)

Education

University of Evansville
Period: 1939–1944
Year of Graduation: 1944
Country: United States
Graduated after emigrating to the U.S.

Awards

Lamont Poetry Prize
1975
Work: The Private Life
Organization: Lamont Poetry selection / awarding body
Result: winner
National Book Award for Poetry
1981
Work: The Need to Hold Still
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
Carl Sandburg Award
1990
Organization: Carl Sandburg-related organization
Result: winner
National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
1990
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: recipient
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1997
Work: Alive Together: New & Selected Poems
Organization: Pulitzer Prize administration (Columbia University)
Result: winner
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
2002
Organization: Ruth Lilly Foundation
Result: recipient
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2019
Organization: Federal Republic of Germany
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Dependencies

1965 Poetry

An early collection of poems, a small volume published after years of self-study.

personal relationshipsdependency

Life of a Queen

1970 Poetry

One of her mid-period collections, mixing private and historical motifs.

memoryhistory

The Private Life

1975 Poetry

The collection that won the Lamont Poetry Prize; focuses on everyday observation and inner life.

everyday lifeinteriority

Voices from the Forest

1977 Poetry

A collection that incorporates nature and folk-tale elements.

naturefolktale

The Need to Hold Still

1980 Poetry

Winner of the 1981 National Book Award for Poetry; deals with time, memory, and stillness.

timememorystillness

Second Language

1986 Poetry

Contains themes of immigrant language experience and awareness of English as a 'second language'.

immigrationlanguage

Waving from Shore

1989 Poetry

A collection of poems imbued with nostalgia and perspectives of distance.

nostalgiadistance

Learning to Play by Ear

1990 Poetry

A collection demonstrating craft and sensitivity in her poetry.

craftsensitivity

Alive Together: New & Selected Poems

1996 Poetry (New & Selected)

Pulitzer Prize-winning collection (1997); a selected volume including new poems and representative works.

memoryimmigrant experiencelanguage and translation
Adaptations
  • [Music (song cycle)] Three Lisel Mueller Settings (2018)
  • [Music album (featured)] Contemporary American Composers (2023)

Bibliography

  • Dependencies (1965)
  • Life of a Queen (1970)
  • The Private Life (1975)
  • Voices from the Forest (1977)
  • The Need to Hold Still (1980)
  • Second Language (1986)
  • Waving from Shore (1989)
  • Learning to Play by Ear (1990)
  • Alive Together: New & Selected Poems (1996)

Adaptations

  • Three Lisel Mueller Settings — song cycle by Max Raimi (settings of three poems)
  • Featured on the album 'Contemporary American Composers' (Grammy-winning album)

Translations by Author

  • Selected Later Poems of Marie Luise Kaschnitz (1980)
  • Circe's Mountain (stories by Marie Luise Kaschnitz, translated) (1990)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Seemingly simple but multilayered and intricate expressionWry humor combined with an underlying sadnessAllusions reflecting German roots, including folk-tale references
Recurring Motifs
folk tales (Brothers Grimm)memory and historyimmigration and second languagedomestic/private life

Health

  • visual impairment / deteriorating vision
    2001–晩年
    Her vision deteriorated after her husband's death, and she largely stopped publishing and writing.

Legacy

A German-born American poet of international reputation, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Known for reflecting immigrant experience and linguistic sensibility in her poetry; notably one of the few German-born poets to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Archives

  • German National Library catalogue entry
  • Library of Congress authority / related holdings
  • Poets.org (Academy of American Poets) author archive

In Popular Culture

  • Her poems were set to music (song cycle) and featured on a Grammy-winning album.

Quotes

  • “My country was struck by history more deadly than earthquakes or hurricanes.”
    Source: Poem 'Curriculum Vitae' (1992) (1992)

Trivia

  • Born Elisabeth Neumann.
  • Emigrated to the United States in 1939 at age 15 fleeing Nazi Germany.
  • Won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1997 (Alive Together).
  • Worked as a receptionist in a doctor's office and wrote book reviews to support herself.
  • Her father was a progressive educator dismissed under the Nazis and later emigrated to the U.S. and became a professor.