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William Logan (poet)
Encyclopedia
William Logan is an American
poet
, critic
and scholar.
, Massachusetts
, to W. Donald Logan, Jr. and Nancy Damon Logan. He lives in Gainesville, Florida
and Cambridge, England with his wife, the poet and artist, Debora Greger
. Educated at Yale
(BA, 1972) and the Iowa Writers' Workshop
at the University of Iowa
(MFA, 1975), he has authored eight books of poetry
as well as five books of criticism
. He is a professor
of creative writing
at the University of Florida
. Logan's poetry reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review. Many of these reviews have been quite controversial, leading Slate magazine to call him "the most hated man in American poetry . . .[and] its guiltiest pleasure". In addition to criticism, Logan has been praised by many such as Richard Tillinghast (The New York Times Book Review) who recognizes him as an "accomplished and original poet...Logan writes with vigor, almost classical restraint and a fine sense of musicality".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
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...
, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
and scholar.
Life
Logan was born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, 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...
, to W. Donald Logan, Jr. and Nancy Damon Logan. He lives in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
and Cambridge, England with his wife, the poet and artist, Debora Greger
Debora Greger
Debora Greger is an award-winning American poet as well as a visual artist.She was raised in Richland, Washington....
. Educated at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
(BA, 1972) and the Iowa Writers' Workshop
Iowa Writers' Workshop
The Program in Creative Writing, more commonly known as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, is a highly regarded graduate-level creative writing program in the United States...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
(MFA, 1975), he has authored eight books of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
as well as five books of criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
. He is a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. Logan's poetry reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review. Many of these reviews have been quite controversial, leading Slate magazine to call him "the most hated man in American poetry . . .[and] its guiltiest pleasure". In addition to criticism, Logan has been praised by many such as Richard Tillinghast (The New York Times Book Review) who recognizes him as an "accomplished and original poet...Logan writes with vigor, almost classical restraint and a fine sense of musicality".
Awards
- National Book Critics Circle award for criticism
- Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle
- Peter I.B. Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets
- John Masefield and Celia B. Wagner Awards from the Poetry Society of America
- J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize from Poetry
- John William CorringtonJohn William CorringtonJohn William Corrington was an American movie and television writer, novelist, poet and lawyer. He received a B.A. degree from Centenary College, in 1956 and his M.A. from Rice University in 1960, the year he took on his first teaching position in the English Department at Louisiana State University...
Award for Literary Excellence - Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling ScholarshipAmy Lowell Poetry Travelling ScholarshipThe Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship is given annually to a U.S.-born poet to spend one year outside North America in a country the recipient feels will most advance his or her work....
Poetry
- "Christ Among the Moneychangers, 1929", Poetry Foundation
- "from Punchinello in Chains: VI. Punchinello Dreams of Escape", Poetry Foundation
- "The Other Place", Poetry, April 2005
- "To a Wedding", Poetry, November 2008
- Sad-faced Men (1982)
- Difficulty (1985)
- Sullen Weedy Lakes (1988)
- Vain Empires (1998), a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Night Battle (1999)
- Macbeth in Venice (2003)
- The Whispering Gallery (2005)
- Strange Flesh (2008)
Criticism
- All the Rage (1998)
- Reputations of the Tongue (1999)
- Desperate Measures (2002)
- The Undiscovered Country (2005)
- Our Savage Art (2009)
External links
- University of Florida Biography
- Logan's review of The Oxford Book of American Poetry in The New York Times, April 16, 2006
- Review of Geoffrey Hill