Sarah Messer
Encyclopedia
Sarah Messer is an American poet
and author
. She was raised in Marshfield
, Massachusetts
, in the Hatch Homestead, a house built in the 17th century that was the subject of her book Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-In House.
Messer earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Middlebury College
and the University of Michigan
, respectively. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
in the Department of Creative Writing.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. She was raised in Marshfield
Marshfield, Massachusetts
Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,132 at the 2010 census.See also: Green Harbor, Marshfield , Rexhame, Marshfield Hills, and Ocean Bluff and Brant Rock....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, in the Hatch Homestead, a house built in the 17th century that was the subject of her book Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-In House.
Messer earned undergraduate and master's degrees from Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
and the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, respectively. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...
in the Department of Creative Writing.
Works
- 2001 Bandit Letters: Poems, poetry collection (ISBN 1-930974-08-6)
- 2004 Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-In House, memoir (ISBN 0-670-03315-4)
Quotes
- From the beginning I could tell / that you were a woman who would braid my beard / to the bed-post, stick her hair pins in butter, salt the sheets thinking / I was a house wren, a simple bird to catch. (From "Reasons why he may not have returned", in Bandit Letters, p. 31.)
- The house contains both the living and the dead, and there are always traces, because the house is not separate, has not one owner but many, has many beams, many different panes of glass, the way a body might have many lovers, the way each owner might look at the house as if at the body of a lover. If the window is removed, is it still a part of the house? If the fireplace swing-arm is taken and put in a museum, is it no longer a part of the house? Can the house be removed from itself? The owner, the past, the parts of the house. I thought: Who can steal a house? Who owns the lover but the loved? (From Red House, p. 234.)