William Bronk (1918-1999). Courtesy New Directions.
| William Bronk | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 17 1918 Fort Edward, New York |
| Died |
February 22 1999 (aged 81) Hudson Falls, New York |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality |
 American |
| Genres | Poetry, Essay |
William Bronk (February 17, 1918 - February 22, 1999) was an American poet.[1]
Life []
Youth and education[]
Bronk was born in a house on Lower Main Street in Fort Edward, New York. He had an older brother Sherman who died young and two older sisters, Jane and Betty. William attended Dartmouth College, arriving there at the age of 16, and after graduation spent a semester at Harvard.[1]
Career[]
Bronk served in World War II, originally as a draftee but later, after attending Officer Candidate School, as an officer. He was discharged from the Army in October 1945.[1]. After a semester of graduate school at Harvard, Bronk “decided I couldn't take any more of that,” and
He started teaching English at Union College, Schenectady, New York.[1] He left Union in June 1946 and returned to Hudson Falls. There, during the later half of 1946, he completed work on The Brother in Elysium.[1]
In January 1947 Bronk took over management of the Bronk Coal and Lumber Company which he had inherited when his father died unexpectedly in 1941.[1] He decided to return to the family business temporarily. He ended up staying more than 30 years. He retired from the business in 1978.[1]
Bronk died on Sunday, February 22, 1999.[1]
Writing[]
While Bronk had never planned to say in the family business, he thought it had worked out well. He believed that if he had stayed in teaching, he never would have written anything worthwhile. He said he put so much energy into the teaching, that at the end of the day, nothing was left. On the other hand, he felt his years in Bronk Coal and Lumber worked out well for him, leaving him the creative energy to write and giving him the financial security to write what he wanted. "I never had to calculate the effect," he said. He wrote without asking himself if the work would sell. "I could write what I wanted to write without worrying about all that."[1]
Bronk said that the poems were created in his mind as he went through the business of the day. When a poem was ready, he put it on paper, working in longhand rather than at a typewriter. As his manuscripts attest, he seldom rewrote, or even modified, a poem once written on paper.[1]
Recognition[]
Bronk won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1982 for Life Supports: New and collected poems.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Light and Dark. Origin Press, 1956
- 2nd edition, Elizabeth Press, 1975.
- The World, the Worldless. New Directions, 1964.
- The Empty Hands. Elizabeth Press, 1969.
- That Tantalus. Elizabeth Press, 1971.
- Utterances: The loss of Grass, trees, water: The unbecoming of wanted and wanter. Providence, RI: Burning Deck , 1972.
- To Praise the Music. Elizabeth Press, 1972.
- Looking at It. Sceptre Press, 1973.
- The Stance. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1975.
- Silence and Metaphor. Elizabeth Press, 1975.
- Finding Losses. Elizabeth Press, 1976.
- The Meantime. Elizabeth Press, 1976.
- My Father Photographed with Friends, and other pictures. Elizabeth Press, 1976.
- Twelve Losses Found. Grosseteste, 1976.
- That Beauty Still. Burning Deck, 1978.
- Life Supports. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1982.
- Light in a Dark Sky. William Ewert, 1982.
- Careless Love and Its Apostrophes. Red Ozier Press, 1985.
- Manifest; and furthermore. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1987.
- Death Is the Place. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1989.
- Living Instead. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1991.
- Some Words. Mount Kisco, NY: Asphodel Press, 1992.
- The Mild Day. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1993.
- Our Selves. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1994.
- Selected Poems (selected by Henry Weinfield); New York: New Directions, 1995.
- The Cage of Age. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1996.
- Life Supports. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1997.
- All of What We Loved. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1998.
- Some Words. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1998.
- Metaphor of Trees and last poems. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1999.
Essays[]
- A Partial Glossary: Two Essays. Elizabeth Press, 1974.
- The New World. Elizabeth Press, 1974.
- The Brother in Elysium. Elizabeth Press, 1980.
- Vectors and Smoothable Curves. San Francisco, CA: North Point Press, 1983
- new edition. Hoboken, NJ: Talisman House, 1997.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.[2]
See also[]
William Bronk poetry reading, 1978 (1 4).
References[]
External links[]
- Poems
- Audio
- William Bronk at YouTube
- 36 Poems read by William Bronk audio-files at "PENNsound" site, recorded in Hudson Falls, New York on October 13, 1978
- Books
- William Bronk at Amazon.com
- About
- William Bronk Biography
- William Bronk’s Path Among the Forms essay by Thomas Lisk at Jacket Magazine site
- New York Times obituary
- Neither Us nor Them: Poetry Anthologies, Canon Building, and the Silencing of William Bronk essay by David Clippinger at The Argotist Online
- William Bronk (1918-1999) at Modern American Poetry
- At home in the unknown: An interview with William Bronk at Artzar
- Obituary @ Electronic Poetry Center includes remembrances by Robert Creeley and Burt Kimmelman
- Etc.
- William Bronk Papers 1908-1999 archived at Columbia University
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