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Mark Strand

マーク・ストランド

Mark Strand

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1934-04-11 （Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada）
Died
2014-11-29 （Brooklyn, New York, U.S.） age 80
Nationality
American, Canadian
Languages
English
Religion
Judaism (secular)
Residence History
Childhood in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada → Adolescence in South and Central America → Study in Florence, Italy (Fulbright) → New York City (teaching and residence) → Brooklyn (place of death / final residence)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Translator, Novelist, Essayist, University professor
Active Years
1957-2014
Affiliations
Columbia University, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought (Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professorship), Johns Hopkins University, Professor of Poetry, American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters (member)
Influenced By
Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, René Magritte, Robert Bly (comparative influence/likened)
Influenced
Later English-language poets influenced by his plain diction and surreal imagery

Education

Oakwood Friends School
Degree: High school diploma
Period: 〜1951
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United States
High school graduation
Antioch College
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1953–1957
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
Earned B.A.
Yale University
Fine Arts (studied painting under Josef Albers)
Degree: B.F.A.
Period: 1958–1959
Year of Graduation: 1959
Country: United States
Studied painting under Josef Albers
University of Iowa (Iowa Writers' Workshop)
Creative writing
Degree: M.A.
Period: 1961–1962
Year of Graduation: 1962
Country: United States
Earned M.A.; attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop

Awards

Fulbright Fellowship
1960
Organization: U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission
Result: 受賞
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets
1979
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
MacArthur Fellowship
1987
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
1990
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 就任（1990–1991）
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry
1992
Organization: Library of Congress / Bobbitt Prize
Result: 受賞
Bollingen Prize
1993
Organization: Bollingen Foundation
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
1999
Work: Blizzard of One
Category: 詩
Organization: Pulitzer Prize (Columbia University administered)
Result: 受賞
Wallace Stevens Award
2004
Organization: Academy of American Poets
Result: 受賞
Gold Medal in Poetry, American Academy of Arts and Letters
2009
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Blizzard of One

1998 Poetry collection

A collection of poems exploring memory, absence, and the personal imagination; winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

memorylosssolitudedreams

Almost Invisible

2012 Poetry collection

A late-career collection notable for concise diction and delicate imagery.

agingexistencememory

Dark Harbor: A Poem

1993 Long poem

A long poem in 55 sections weaving seaside and island imagery with introspection.

seaislandrecollection

The Monument

1978 Prose/Poetry (has both prose and poetry works with same title)

There is both a 1978 prose work and a later poetry work titled The Monument; contains fragmentary, narrative-tinged pieces on form and memory.

memorynarrative

Collected Poems

2014 Collected poetry

A collected edition assembling key works; also serves as a retrospective volume.

retrospectionoverview

Bibliography

  • Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964)
  • Reasons for Moving (1968)
  • Darker (1970)
  • The Story of Our Lives (1973)
  • The Monument (1978)
  • Blizzard of One (1998)
  • Man and Camel (2006)
  • Almost Invisible (2012)
  • Collected Poems (2014)

Translations by Author

  • 18 Poems from the Quechua (1971)
  • The Owl's Insomnia (translations of Rafael Alberti, 1973)
  • Souvenir of the Ancient World (translations of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, 1976)
  • Looking for Poetry (2002; translations of Drummond and Alberti)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Plain, concrete dictionFree verse without strict meter or rhymeUse of surrealist imageryNarrative elements in poems
Recurring Motifs
island and seaside landscapesmemory and lossloneliness and absencedreams and surreal imagery

Health

  • Liposarcoma
    2014（末期）
    Died of liposarcoma in 2014. Affected late-life activities.

Legacy

Mark Strand was a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and served as U.S. Poet Laureate in 1990–91. Known for plain diction and surreal imagery, he influenced many later poets and was cited by Harold Bloom as part of the Western Canon.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

Quotes

  • “I feel very much a part of a new international style that has a lot to do with plainness of diction, a certain reliance on surrealist techniques, and a strong narrative element.”
    Source: 1971 interview (1971)

Trivia

  • Born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island (Canada) but later held American nationality.
  • Spent adolescence in South and Central America, which influenced his poetry.
  • Received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1987 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1999.
  • Served as U.S. Poet Laureate (1990–91).