Bollingen Prize for Poetry
1 appearances
-
Edition 14 (1960) Winner
Arthur Yvor Winters
アーサー・イヴォー・ウィンターズ
Arthur Yvor Winters
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1900-10-17 （Chicago, Illinois, U.S.）
- Died
- 1968-01-25 （Los Altos, California, U.S.） age 67
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Chicago (born — until 1919) → Santa Fe (sanatorium/recuperation) → Los Altos (long-term residence while at Stanford) → Boulder (University of Colorado attendance)
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Literary critic, Professor
- Active Years
- 1920-1968
- Affiliations
- Stanford University, Department of English (faculty)
- Influenced By
- Irving Babbitt, Imagism and early modernist poets, Native American poetry (influence on imagery and themes)
- Influenced
- Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass, Donald Hall, Philip Levine, Edgar Bowers
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Chicago | — | — | — | 1917–1918 | United States |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | — | — | BA, MA | 1923–1925 | United States |
| Stanford University | Department of English | English Literature | PhD | 1930–1934 | United States |
University of Chicago
Period:
1917–1918
Country:
United States
Attended for four quarters in 1917–18; did not complete a degree there.
University of Colorado at Boulder
Degree:
BA, MA
Period:
1923–1925
Year of Graduation:
1925
Country:
United States
Received BA and MA in 1925.
Stanford University
Department of English
/ English Literature
Degree:
PhD
Period:
1930–1934
Year of Graduation:
1934
Country:
United States
Completed PhD in 1934 and remained on the Stanford faculty thereafter.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Bollingen Prize for Poetry | Collected Poems | — | Bollingen Prize Board | Winner |
Bollingen Prize for Poetry
1961
Work:
Collected Poems
Organization:
Bollingen Prize Board
Result:
Winner
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Diadems and Fagots
1921 PoetryAn early collection that shows Winters' initial modernist experiments alongside emerging neoclassical tendencies.
ImagismForm and order
Primitivism and Decadence: A Study of American Experimental Poetry
1937 Critical study / EssaysA critical examination of American experimental poetry arguing for the primacy of reason and poetic form.
CriticismReason and form
Collected Poems
1952 Poetry (Collected)A major collection of Winters' poems; revised in 1960 and the basis for his 1961 Bollingen Prize.
Order and moralityClarification of perception
Bibliography
- Diadems and Fagots (1921)
- The Immobile Wind (1921)
- The Magpie's Shadow (1922)
- Notes on the Mechanics of the Image (1923)
- The Bare Hills (1927)
- The Proof (1930)
- The Journey and Other Poems (1931)
- Before Disaster (1934)
- Primitivism and Decadence (1937)
- Maule's Curse (1938)
- Poems (1940)
- The Giant Weapon (1943)
- The Anatomy of Nonsense (1943)
- Edwin Arlington Robinson (1946)
- In Defense of Reason (1947)
- To the Holy Spirit (1947)
- Three Poems (1950)
- Collected Poems (1952, revised 1960)
- The Function of Criticism (1957)
- On Modern Poets (1959)
- The Early Poems of Yvor Winters, 1920–1928 (1966)
- Forms of Discovery (1967)
- Uncollected Essays and Reviews (1976)
- The Collected Poems of Yvor Winters (1978, intro by Donald Davie)
- Uncollected Poems 1919–1928 (1997)
- Uncollected Poems 1929–1957 (1997)
- Yvor Winters: Selected Poems (2003, ed. Thom Gunn)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Neoclassical clarity and formalityStrong emphasis on meter and rhythmAnalytical, logical style in criticism
- Recurring Motifs
- Form and orderDisintegration vs. control of feelingEthics and reason
Health
-
Tuberculosis1918–1920Spent two years recuperating in Santa Fe; produced some early poems during recovery.
-
Throat cancer1967–1968Died of throat cancer in 1968; affected late-career activity.
Legacy
Yvor Winters was an influential 20th-century American poet and critic who championed form and reason in poetry. He mentored many notable poets and received recognition such as the Bollingen Prize.
Archives
- Stanford University Libraries (papers and related materials)
- Los Altos History Museum (local historical materials)
Quotes
-
A poem in the first place should offer us a new perception . . . bringing into being a new experience.
Source: Primitivism and Decadence (as quoted) (1937) -
To say that a poet is justified in employing a disintegrating form in order to express a feeling of disintegration, is merely a sophistical justification for bad poetry... poetic form is by definition a means to arrest the disintegration and order the feeling.
Source: Primitivism and Decadence (excerpt) (1937)
Trivia
- Edited the literary magazine Gyroscope with his wife from 1929 to 1931.
- Was involved in editing Hound & Horn from 1932 to 1934.
- The Collected Poems (revised 1960) was the basis for his 1961 Bollingen Prize.
- Taught and mentored many notable poets, including Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass, and Donald Hall.