William Snodgrass
William De Witt Snodgrass was an American poet, translator, and university teacher whose work appeared in the English language across more than six decades of literary life.
Born on January 5, 1926, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Snodgrass pursued his education first at Geneva College and then at the University of Iowa, where he developed the craft that would come to define his career. His formation at Iowa placed him within one of the most consequential creative writing programs in American academic life, and the training he received there shaped the direction of his poetry in lasting ways.
His achievements as a poet brought him significant recognition. In 1960, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, an honor that marked a high point in his standing among American poets of his generation. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets, and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award — the last of these acknowledging his work not only as a poet but as a translator, a role he occupied with evident seriousness. The breadth of these honors reflects the range of his literary engagement, spanning original composition and the rendering of other writers' work into English.
Alongside his writing, Snodgrass held a position as a university teacher, a professional identity that ran in parallel with his literary output throughout much of his adult life. Teaching and writing coexisted in his practice, as they did for many poets of his era working within American institutions of higher education.
Snodgrass died on January 13, 2009, in Madison County, just eight days after his eighty-third birthday. He had written in English throughout his career, and the Library of Congress catalogued him under the name "Snodgrass, W. D. (William De Witt), 1926–2009" — a bibliographic record that traces the full arc of his life as a writer. His body of work encompasses poetry and translation, two modes of literary labor that together defined his contribution to American letters and earned him formal recognition from some of the most prominent institutions in the field.
Quotes by William Snodgrass
Before we drained out one another's force With lies, self-denial, unspoken regret And the sick eyes that blame; before the divorce And the treachery.
Before we drained out one another's forceWith lies, self-denial, unspoken regretAnd the sick eyes that blame; before the divorceAnd the treachery.
I haven't read one book about A book or memorized one plot, Or found a mind I did not doubt, I learned one date. And then forgot. And one by one the solid scholars Get the degrees, the jobs, the dollars.
I haven't read one book aboutA book or memorized one plot,Or found a mind I did not doubt,I learned one date. And then forgot.And one by one the solid scholarsGet the degrees, the jobs, the dollars.
They wear their godhead lightly. They look out from their hill and say, To themselves, "We have nowhere to go but down; The great destination is to stay.
They wear their godhead lightly.They look out from their hill and say,To themselves, "We have nowhere to go but down;The great destination is to stay.
Sweet beast, I have gone prowling, a proud rejected man who lived along the edges catch as catch can; in darkness and in hedges I sang my sour tone and all my love was howling conspicuously alone.
Sweet beast, I have gone prowling,a proud rejected manwho lived along the edgescatch as catch can;in darkness and in hedgesI sang my sour toneand all my love was howlingconspicuously alone.
You must call up every strength you own And you can rip off the whole facial mask.
You must call up every strength you ownAnd you can rip off the whole facial mask.