Lorine Niedecker
Encyclopedia
Lorine Faith Niedecker (May 12, 1903 - December 31, 1970) was a Wisconsin poet and the only woman associated with the Objectivist poets
. She is widely credited for demonstrating how an Objectivist poetic could handle the personal as subject matter.
to Theresa (Daisy) Kunz and Henry Niedecker and lived most of her life in rural isolation. She grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of the river until she moved to Fort Atkinson to attend school. This world of birds, trees, water and marsh was to inform her poetry for the rest of her life. On graduating from high school in 1922, she went to Beloit College
to study literature but left after two years because her father was no longer able to pay her tuition. She devoted herself to caring for her ailing deaf mother, who was deeply depressed by her husband's flagrant affair with a neighbor woman. Niedecker married Frank Hartwig in 1928 but this relationship lasted only two years. Hartwig's fledgling road construction business foundered during the onset of the Great Depression while Lorine lost her job at the Fort Atkinson Library. The two separated in 1930 but were not legally divorced until 1942.
. In 1931, she read the Objectivist
issue of Poetry
. She was fascinated by what she saw and immediately wrote to Louis Zukofsky
, who had edited the issue, sending him her latest poems. This was the beginning of what proved to be a most important relationship for her development as a poet. Zukofsky suggested sending them to Poetry, where they were accepted for publication. Suddenly, Niedecker found herself in direct contact with the American poetic avant-garde
. Near the end of 1933, Niedecker visited Zukofsky in New York City for the first time and became pregnant with his child. He insisted that she have an abortion, which she did, although they remained friends and continued to carry on a mutually beneficial correspondence following Niedecker's return to Fort Atkinson.
From the mid 1930s, Niedecker moved away from surrealism and started writing poems that engaged more directly with social and political realities and on her own immediate rural surroundings. Her first book, New Goose (1946), collected many of these poems.
, Basil Bunting
and several younger British and US poets who were interested in reclaiming the modernist heritage. Her books published in the last few decades of her life included My Friend Tree, T & G: The Collected Poems, 1936–1966, North Central, and My Life By Water.
Encouraged by this interest, Niedecker started writing again. She had previously earned her living scrubbing hospital floors in Fort Atkinson, "reading proof" at a local magazine, renting cottages and living in near-poverty for years. However, her marriage in May 1963 to Albert Millen, an industrial painter at Ladish Drop Forge on Milwaukee's south side, brought financial stability back into her life. When Millen retired in 1968, the couple moved back to Blackhawk Island, taking up residence in a small cottage Lorine had built on property she inherited from her father.
Niedecker died in 1970 from a cerebral hemorrhage, leaving behind several unpublished typescripts. Many other Niedecker papers were burned by Millen, who said he did so at Niedecker's request. Her name was added to her parents' headstone which uses the original spelling of the family name, Neidecker. Lorine had her name changed to the Niedecker spelling when she was in her twenties. The primary Niedecker archives are in the Dwight Foster Public Library (which inherited Niedecker's personal library) and the Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson (which holds a collection of Niedecker's papers, as preserved and donated by her neighbor and close friend, Gail Roub).
Niedecker's comprehensive Collected Works, edited by Jenny Penberthy, were published by the University of California Press in 2002. A centennial celebration of Niedecker's life and work, held in Milwaukee and Fort Atkinson in 2003, included treks to her two Rock River-edged homes on Black Hawk Island and symposium sessions including presentations by scholars and poets. Corman, Niedecker's literary executor who lived most of his creative life in Japan, made his last appearance in the United States during this event.
Niedecker and the Correspondence with Zukofsky 1931-1970 (1993)
My Friend Tree (Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1961).
North Central (London: Fulcrum Press, 1968).
T&G: The Collected Poems (1936–1966) (Penland, N.C.: The Jargon Society, 1969).
My Life by Water: Collected Poems 1936-1968 (London: Fulcrum Press, 1970).
Blue Chicory, Editor: Cid Corman
(New Rochelle, N.Y.: The Elizabeth Press, 1976).
The Granite Pail: Selected Poems of Lorine Niedecker (1985)
Harpsichord & Salt Fish (1991)
Collected Works, ed. Jenny Penberthy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002) ISBN 0-520-22433-7
Objectivist poets
The Objectivist poets were a loose-knit group of second-generation Modernists who emerged in the 1930s. They were mainly American and were influenced by, amongst others, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams...
. She is widely credited for demonstrating how an Objectivist poetic could handle the personal as subject matter.
Early life
Niedecker was born on Black Hawk Island near Fort Atkinson, WisconsinFort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the Rock River, a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. In 1996, Money Magazine named Fort Atkinson "One of America's Hottest Little Boomtowns." The population was 11,621 at the 2000 census.- History :Fort...
to Theresa (Daisy) Kunz and Henry Niedecker and lived most of her life in rural isolation. She grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of the river until she moved to Fort Atkinson to attend school. This world of birds, trees, water and marsh was to inform her poetry for the rest of her life. On graduating from high school in 1922, she went to Beloit College
Beloit College
Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...
to study literature but left after two years because her father was no longer able to pay her tuition. She devoted herself to caring for her ailing deaf mother, who was deeply depressed by her husband's flagrant affair with a neighbor woman. Niedecker married Frank Hartwig in 1928 but this relationship lasted only two years. Hartwig's fledgling road construction business foundered during the onset of the Great Depression while Lorine lost her job at the Fort Atkinson Library. The two separated in 1930 but were not legally divorced until 1942.
Early Writings
Niedecker's earliest poetry was marked by her reading of the Imagists, whose work she greatly admired and of surrealismSurrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. In 1931, she read the Objectivist
Objectivist poets
The Objectivist poets were a loose-knit group of second-generation Modernists who emerged in the 1930s. They were mainly American and were influenced by, amongst others, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams...
issue of Poetry
Poetry (magazine)
Poetry , published in Chicago, Illinois since 1912, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Published by the Poetry Foundation and currently edited by Christian Wiman, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000 and prints 300 poems per year out of approximately...
. She was fascinated by what she saw and immediately wrote to Louis Zukofsky
Louis Zukofsky
Louis Zukofsky was an American poet. He was one of the founders and the primary theorist of the Objectivist group of poets and thus an important influence on subsequent generations of poets in America and abroad.-Life:...
, who had edited the issue, sending him her latest poems. This was the beginning of what proved to be a most important relationship for her development as a poet. Zukofsky suggested sending them to Poetry, where they were accepted for publication. Suddenly, Niedecker found herself in direct contact with the American poetic avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
. Near the end of 1933, Niedecker visited Zukofsky in New York City for the first time and became pregnant with his child. He insisted that she have an abortion, which she did, although they remained friends and continued to carry on a mutually beneficial correspondence following Niedecker's return to Fort Atkinson.
From the mid 1930s, Niedecker moved away from surrealism and started writing poems that engaged more directly with social and political realities and on her own immediate rural surroundings. Her first book, New Goose (1946), collected many of these poems.
Neglect
Niedecker was not to publish another book for fifteen years. In 1949, she began work on a poem sequence called For Paul, named for Zukofsky's son. Unfortunately, Zukofsky was uncomfortable with what he viewed as the overly personal and intrusive nature of the content of the 72 poems she eventually collected under this title and discouraged publication. Partly because of her geographical isolation, even magazine publication was not easily available and in 1955 she claimed that she had published work only six times in the previous ten years.Late Flowering
The 1960s saw a revival of interest in Niedecker's work. Wild Hawthorn Press and Fulcrum Press, both British-based, published books and magazine publication became regular. She was also befriended by a number of poets, including Cid CormanCid Corman
Cid Corman was an American poet, translator and editor, most notably of Origin, who was a key figure in the history of American poetry in the second half of the 20th century.-Early life and writing:...
, Basil Bunting
Basil Bunting
Basil Cheesman Bunting was a significant British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of Briggflatts in 1966. He had a lifelong interest in music that led him to emphasise the sonic qualities of poetry, particularly the importance of reading poetry aloud...
and several younger British and US poets who were interested in reclaiming the modernist heritage. Her books published in the last few decades of her life included My Friend Tree, T & G: The Collected Poems, 1936–1966, North Central, and My Life By Water.
Encouraged by this interest, Niedecker started writing again. She had previously earned her living scrubbing hospital floors in Fort Atkinson, "reading proof" at a local magazine, renting cottages and living in near-poverty for years. However, her marriage in May 1963 to Albert Millen, an industrial painter at Ladish Drop Forge on Milwaukee's south side, brought financial stability back into her life. When Millen retired in 1968, the couple moved back to Blackhawk Island, taking up residence in a small cottage Lorine had built on property she inherited from her father.
Niedecker died in 1970 from a cerebral hemorrhage, leaving behind several unpublished typescripts. Many other Niedecker papers were burned by Millen, who said he did so at Niedecker's request. Her name was added to her parents' headstone which uses the original spelling of the family name, Neidecker. Lorine had her name changed to the Niedecker spelling when she was in her twenties. The primary Niedecker archives are in the Dwight Foster Public Library (which inherited Niedecker's personal library) and the Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson (which holds a collection of Niedecker's papers, as preserved and donated by her neighbor and close friend, Gail Roub).
Niedecker's comprehensive Collected Works, edited by Jenny Penberthy, were published by the University of California Press in 2002. A centennial celebration of Niedecker's life and work, held in Milwaukee and Fort Atkinson in 2003, included treks to her two Rock River-edged homes on Black Hawk Island and symposium sessions including presentations by scholars and poets. Corman, Niedecker's literary executor who lived most of his creative life in Japan, made his last appearance in the United States during this event.
Letters
Between Your House and Mine: Letters of Lorine Niedecker to Cid Corman, 1960-1970 (1987)Niedecker and the Correspondence with Zukofsky 1931-1970 (1993)
Poetry
New Goose (Prairie City, Ill.: Press of James A. Decker, 1946).My Friend Tree (Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1961).
North Central (London: Fulcrum Press, 1968).
T&G: The Collected Poems (1936–1966) (Penland, N.C.: The Jargon Society, 1969).
My Life by Water: Collected Poems 1936-1968 (London: Fulcrum Press, 1970).
Blue Chicory, Editor: Cid Corman
Cid Corman
Cid Corman was an American poet, translator and editor, most notably of Origin, who was a key figure in the history of American poetry in the second half of the 20th century.-Early life and writing:...
(New Rochelle, N.Y.: The Elizabeth Press, 1976).
The Granite Pail: Selected Poems of Lorine Niedecker (1985)
Harpsichord & Salt Fish (1991)
Poetry & Prose
From This Condensery: The Complete Writings of Lorine Niedecker (1985)Collected Works, ed. Jenny Penberthy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002) ISBN 0-520-22433-7
External links
- Friends of Lorine Niedecker site from Fort Atkinson, WI
- Lorine Niedecker at Modern American Poetry
- Exhibit at the Academy of American Poets
- Lorine Niedecker Home page at EPC
- Web guide
- Facsimile of complete "Paean to Place" autograph edition
- Who Was Lorine Niedecker? essay by Elizabeth WillisElizabeth WillisElizabeth Willis is an American poet, literary critic and professor of literature and creative writing at Wesleyan University. Her most notable work includes four major books of poetry and a scholarly collection of essays on Lorine Niedecker which she edited...
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4DF1539F93AA25750C0A96F948260NY Times review of Kristine ThatcherKristine Thatcher-Life:Thatcher, born Margaret Schneider, began acting at 16 with a small professional company in her hometown, Lansing, Michigan. She went on to work at regional theaters across the country. Her first husband was actor Tim Thatcher...
's play "Niedecker"] - Jeffery Beam's appreciation "Old Sunflower, You Bowed to No One" in "Oyster Boy Review"
- Historic Fort Atkinson Collection with pictures and papers from the Lorine Niedecker Archives
- Interview with filmmaker Cathy Cook on her film about Lorine Niedecker, Immortal Cupboard: In Search of Lorine Niedecker