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by George J. Dance

GWDresbach f

Glenn Ward Dresbach & Beverly Dresbach, 1940's. Courtesy Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.

Glenn Ward Dresbach (September 9, 1899 - June 28, 1968) was an American poet.[1]

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Dresbach was born near Lanark, Illinois, the only child of farmers Belle (Weidman) and William Henry Dresbach.[1]

He graduated from Lanark High School, and then from 1908-1911 attended the University of Wisconsin, where he served as editor of Wisconsin Magazine and won a national intercollegiate award for poetry.[1]

Career[]

After graduating, Dresbach began a career as an accountant, working for the Panama Railroad (1911-1915), and the Phelps-Dodge Corporation of Tyrone, New Mexico, 1915-1921. From September 1917 through the end of World War I he served in the U.S. Army, rising through the ranks from private to captain.[1]

On January 29, 1921, Dresbach married Mary Angela Boyle and soon thereafter began a new job as an auditor and credit manager with the Peyton Packing Company of El Paso, Texas. He then became budgetary comptroller for Mandel Brothers Department Store in Chicago, in 1923.[1]

Dresbach left Mandel Brothers in 1932,[1] and returned to his old home in Lanark.[2] For the next 12 years, he supported himself by lecturing and writing poetry.[1]

He published 11 books of poetry between 1916 and 1950. His poetry appeared in more than 200 anthologies and textbooks, and in dozens of magazines and journals including Atlantic Monthly, American Mercury, the Christian Science Monitor, and Poetry: A magazine of verse. His Collected Poems, 1914-1948, were published in 1949. [1]

His wife died in 1943, and on April 9, 1944, Dresbach married author Beverly Githens.[1]

From 1944 until his 1952 retirement, Dresbach served as an executive accountant with the Bank of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. He died in Eureka Springs, and is buried in Fayetteville National Cemetry.[1]

Writing[]

Bookman Anthology of Verse, 1922: "Dresbach has a positive aversion to free verse, writes conventional lyrics with technical care, and long narrative and dramatic poems which have none of the vagaries in metre characteristic of much poetry which has come to us from the West."[2]

Recognition[]

Dresbach received more than 100 honors and awards, including the George Sterling Memorial Prize, American Literary Association Prize, Poetry World Prize, Hamlin Garland Prize, and United States Poet Laureate International. He and his 2nd wife were honored with a gold medal distinguishing them as “Outstanding Literary Couple” by President Diosdado Macapagal of the Philippines in 1965.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Buds of Springtime. Lanark, IL: privately published, 1905.
  • The Road to Everywhere. Boston: Gorham Press, 1916.
  • In the Paths of the Wind. Boston: Four Seas, 1917.
  • Morning, Noon, and Night. Boston: Four Seas, 1920.
  • In Colors of the West. New York: Holt, 1922.
  • The Enchanted Mesa, and other poems. New York: Holt, 1924.
  • Cliff Dwellings, and other poems. New York: H. Vinal, 1926.
  • This Side of Avalon. New York: H. Vinal, 1928.
  • Star-dust and Stone. Dallas, TX: P.L. Turner, 1928.
  • The Wind in the Cedars. New York: Holt, 1930.
  • Selected Poems. New York: Holt, 1931.
  • Collected Poems, 1916-1948. Caldwell, ID: Caxton, 1948.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]

See also[]

References[]

Fonds[]

Notes[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Glenn Ward Dresbach (1889-1968), Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Web, June 13, 2015.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Glenn Ward Dresbach (1889-1968), Dreisbach Family Association. Web, Sep. 20, 2020.
  3. Search results = au:Glenn Ward Dresbach, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 13, 2010.

External links[]

Poems
Books
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Original Penny's Poetry Pages article, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0.
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