| May Swenson |
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| swenson, may | |
| 1989 deaths | |
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May Swenson (May 28, 1913, Logan, Utah- December 4, 1989, Bethany Beach, Delaware) Poet, critic, scholar, editor, writer in residence, and lecturer. She grew up as the eldest of 10 children, in a Mormon household where Swedish was spoken regularly and English was a second language. Much of her later poetry works were devoted to children, although she also translated work of contemporary Swedish poets. Examples of which include: the collection Iconographs (1970) and the selected poems of Tomas Transtromer. EDUCATION AND WORK Swenson attended Utah State University in Logan in class of 1939, where she received a bachelor's degree. She taught poetry at several universities including Bryn Mawr, the University of North Carolina, the University of California at Riverside, Purdue University and Utah State University. Then, from 1959 to 1966 she worked as an editor at New Directions publishers. She also served as a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1980 until her death in 1989. PUBLISHERS Her poems were published in Antaeus, The Atlantic Monthly, Carleton Miscellany, The Nation, The New Yorker, Paris Review,The Saturday Review, Parnassus and Poetry. AWARDS AND RECOGNITION She received much recognition for her work. Some of which include:
STYLE, IMAGERY AND EROTICISM Swenson’s work shows strong use of imagery and use of eroticism. She continually questions existence and writes much on the topic of love. Her love poems concerned “human nature, the natural world, geography, and invention. They are poems of intense love between women, written at a time when that genre was rare in poetry” (Schulman.) A self proclaimed lesbian, much critique has been done on her heterosexual imagery. Although she did not go out of her way to make known her sexual identity, she also did not hide it. Perhaps she did promote her sexuality because of the times, religion, or maybe just personal preference not to. In her career she has turned down publication offers to use her poetry in a compilation of lesbian writing, yet she did agree in one case, which she explained as a tasteful collection she did not mind contributing to. Her biography The Love Poems of May Swenson focused mostly on poems in which sexual imagery is especially abundant. It is considered her book of strongest love poems. One example, the poem “In the Yard” reads: You're back, barefoot, brought some fruit. Split me an apple. We'll get red, white halves each, our juice on the Indian spread. (Nature 94) Swenson's style is described as rhythmic. Her creative style merges in her writing with her interest in plant and animal behaviour with works such as "The Cross Spider". As well as natural themes, some of her work focuses on scientific research, for example the exploration of space. Fascinated by perception, much of Swenson's work contains key themes of how this human perception can be found in landscapes and wider contexts. One source comments that her use of nature and sexuality are not used separately, but that nature is something we are all part of, and in that commonality we share energy derived from sexuality. LEGACY Working with the Literary Estate of May Swenson, Utah State University (USU) has created the "May Swenson Project". Supported by students and teachers, it has publicized Swenson's work at USU, as well as her influence across the nation. In her name, USU has dedicated a May Swenson room in the English Department and another in the USU Merrill-Cazier Library. Funds are being sought to establish an endowed chair in Swenson's name. The May Swenson Poetry Award, sponsored by Utah State University Press, is a competitive prize granted annually to an outstanding collection of poetry in English. Open to published and unpublished writers, with no limitation on subject, the competition honors May Swenson as one of America’s most vital and provocative poets of the twentieth century. Judges for the competition have included Mary Oliver, Maxine Kumin, John Hollander, Mark Doty, Alice Quinn, Harold Bloom, and others from the first tier of American letters. http://www.usu.edu/usupress/poetry_award/ BIBLIOGRAPHY Poetry:
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