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Bill Knott (poet)

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Bill-knott

Bill Knott in 1987. Courtesy Bill Knott Archive.

William Kilborn Knott (17 February 1940 - 12 March 2014) was an American poet and academic.

Life[]

Knott was born in Carson City, Michigan. He earned an M.F.A. from Norwich University, and studied with John Logan in Chicago.

Knott taught at Emerson College for more than 25 years.[1]

His debut collection of poems, The Naomi Poems: Corpse and beans, was published in 1968 under the name "Saint Geraud," a fictional persona whose backstory included a suicide 2 years prior to the publishing.[2]

The Naomi Poems was well received, and brought Knott to the attention of such poets as James Wright, who called him an "unmistakable genius."[3]

Writing[]

Early in his career, Knott was noted for writing unusually short poems, some as short as a line, and untitled.[4] Later he became interested in metrical verse forms and syllabics. He was not a believer in poetic "branding" and throughout his career refused to restrict himself to a particular school or style of writing. His poetry's subjects, themes and tones were also wide-ranging. His work often displayed a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor, and he was critical of what he saw as an epidemic of humorlessness in contemporary American poetry.[5] Poets who cite him as an influence include Thomas Lux, Mary Karr, Stephen Dobyns, Denise Duhamel, Denis Johnson, and Janaka Stucky.[5]

A selection of Knott's work, I Am Flying Into Myself: Selected poems, 1960-2014, was compiled by Thomas Lux and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2017.[6]

Recognition[]

Knott was awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.[1]

Billy Collins included Knott's poem, "Advice from the Experts," in his 2003 anthology, Poetry 180.[7]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • The Naomi Poems, Book 1: Corpse and beans. Chicago: Big Table, 1968.
  • Aurealism: A study (chapbook). Syracuse, NY: Salt Mound, 1970.
  • Nights of Naomi. Somerville, MA: Barn Dream Press, 1971.
  • Auto-Necrophilia; The _____ Poems, Book 2. Chicago: Big Table, 1971. ISBN 0-695-80188-0
  • Love Poems to Myself. Boston: Barn Dream Press, 1974.
  • Rome in Rome. Brooklyn, NY: Release Press, 1976.
  • Selected and Collected Poems. New York: Sun, 1977.
  • Becos: Poems. New York: Random House, 1983. ISBN 0-394-52924-3
  • Poems, 1963-1988. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989. ISBN 0-8229-5416-8
  • Outremer: Poems. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1989. ISBN 0-87745-255-5
  • Collected Political Poems, 1965-1992. Boston: privately published, 1992.
  • Sixty Poems of Love and Homage (chapbook). Boston: privately published, 1994.
  • The Quicken Tree: Poems. Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1995. ISBN 1-880238-24-1
  • Plaza de Loco: New poems, 1999. Boston: privately published, 1999.
  • Laugh at the End of the World: Collected comic poems, 1969-1999. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-880238-84-5
  • Collected Political Poems, 1965-2001. Boston: privately published, 2001.
  • The Unsubcriber. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2004. ISBN 0-374-53014-9
  • Other Strangers than Our Own: Selected love poems. Boston: privately published, 2005.
  • Stigmata Errata Etcetera. Philadelphia: Saturnalia Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9754990-4-7

Novel[]

  • Lucky Darrel: A novel (with James Tate). Brooklyn, NY: Release Press, 1977.
Bill_Knott_reading_his_poem_"A_LESSON_FROM_THE_ORPHANAGE"

Bill Knott reading his poem "A LESSON FROM THE ORPHANAGE"


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[8]

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marquard, Bryan (March 31, 2014). "Bill Knott, 74; widely admired as poet, Emerson professor". The Boston Globe. https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/doc/1511371148.html?FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+31%2C+2014&author=Marquard%2C+Bryan&pub=Boston+Globe&edition=&startpage=&desc=Bill+Knott%2C+74%3B+widely+admired+as+poet%2C+Emerson+professor. Retrieved 18 December 2014. 
  2. ↑ Adam Travis, An interview with Bill Knott at Bookslut, 2005. Web, Jan 9, 2009.
  3. ↑ Wright, James (2008). A Wild Perfection: Selected letters of James Wright. Wesleyan University Press. p. 424. ISBN 9780819568724. https://books.google.com/books?id=eSJP5tg6g3MC&pg=PA424. 
  4. ↑ Knott, Bill. "COLLECTED SHORT POEMS 1960-2008". http://static.squarespace.com/static/52dd408de4b0e9abea4da87f/t/53bc868ae4b0dfc914b462b3/1404864138329/BILL+KNOTT+BLOG+BOOKS+2008.pdf. Retrieved 19 December 2014. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Arnold, Robert (June 2006). "An Interview with Bill Knott". http://www.memorious.org/?id=140. Retrieved 19 December 2014. 
  6. ↑ Teicher, Craig (February 13, 2017). "Bill Knott's unclassifiable poetry is collected in 'I Am Flying Into Myself'". http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-bill-knott-20170213-story.html. 
  7. ↑ "Advice from the Experts, Poetry 180, Poetry and Literature, Library of Congress. Web, June 14, 2018.
  8. ↑ Search results = au:Bill Knott, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 14, 2016.

External links[]

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