Randall Jarrell
Randall Jarrell
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Randall Jarrell was born on May 6, 1914, in Nashville, Tennessee, as Randall Jarrell, but his friends and family often called him Randy.
Birth and Death Dates
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Jarrell passed away on October 14, 1965, at the age of 51.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Jarrell was an American poet, critic, and essayist. He is considered one of the most important and influential poets of his generation.
Early Life and Background
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Born into a middle-class family in Nashville, Tennessee, Jarrell developed a love for poetry at an early age. His parents encouraged his interests, and he began writing his own poetry as a teenager. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1934, Jarrell moved to Harvard University, where he earned his master's degree in English literature. During this period, he became interested in the work of poets such as T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden.
Major Accomplishments
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Jarrell's poetry is characterized by its unique blend of modernist experimentation and classical forms. Some of his most notable collections include Blood for a Stranger (1942), Little Friend (1945), and The Woman at the Washington Zoo (1960). He was also an accomplished critic, writing essays on various aspects of literature.
Notable Works or Actions
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Some of Jarrell's most celebrated poems include "Losses" (1959) and "A Sad Heart at the French Café" (1960). In addition to his poetry, Jarrell was a prolific essayist. His collection Poetry and the Age (1953) is considered a seminal work in American literary criticism.
Impact and Legacy
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Jarrell's impact on modern poetry cannot be overstated. He was a key figure in the development of confessional poetry, which emphasizes personal experience and emotion. His own poetry is characterized by its introspection, lyricism, and exploration of themes such as love, loss, and mortality. Through his work, Jarrell helped to establish American poetry as a major force on the world literary stage.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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Jarrell's poetry continues to be widely read and studied today for its technical skill, emotional depth, and philosophical insight. His work is often quoted in academic circles and among readers of modern poetry.
Quotes by Randall Jarrell
Randall Jarrell's insights on:
It is better to entertain an idea than to take it home to live with you for the rest of your life.
I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine-tenths of our intellectuals can't read any poetry.
One of the most puzzling things about a novel is that “the way it really was” half the time is, and half the time isn’t, the way it ought to be in the novel.
The usual bad poem in somebody’s Collected Works is a learned, mannered, valued habit, a habit a little more careful than, and little emptier than, brushing one’s teeth.
I think that one possible definition of our modern culture is that it is one in which nine- tenths of our intellectuals can’t read any poetry.
I simply don’t want the poems mixed up with my life or opinions or picture or any other regrettable concomitants. I look like a bear and live in a cave; but you should worry.
The Southern past, the Southern present, the Southern future, concentrated into Gertrude’s voice, became one of red clay pine-barrens, of chain-gang camps, of housewives dressed in flour sacks who stare all day dully down into dirty sinks.
If we meet an honest and intelligent politician, a dozen, a hundred, we say they aren’t like politicians at all, and our category of politicians stays unchanged; we know what politicians are like.
I see at last that all the knowledge I wrung from the darkness – that darkness flung me – Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing The darkness from the darkness. Pain comes from the darkness And we call it wisdom. It is pain.