Gerald Stern (1) (1925–2022)
Author of This Time: New and Selected Poems
For other authors named Gerald Stern, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Often applauded as a modern Walt Whitman, Gerald Stern was born February 22, 1925 in Pittsburgh. Stern grew up in Pittsburgh and received a BA in 1947 from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A from Columbia University in 1949. He did post-graduate study at the University of Paris from 1949 to show more 1950 and taught at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Iowa, Columbia, New York University, and Princeton. He held chairs at Washington University at St. Louis, Bucknell, and The University of Alabama. He has been a member of the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop in Iowa City since 1982. Stern is the author of 12 collections of poetry including Leaving Another Kingdom: Selected Poems, Bread Without Sugar and Odd Mercy. His work is anthologized in more than 50 anthologies of American poetry. His long poem "Hot Dog " from Odd Mercy was published in a special supplement to The American Poetry Review in 1995. His work has received numerous awards including the Patterson Poetry Prize, the PEN Award, the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize, the Melville Caine Award from the Poetry Society of America, The Lamont Poetry Prize, and the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets for Distinguished Lifetime Service. He has also received a Guggenheim fellowship and three National Endowment for the Arts grants. Gerald Stern married Patricia Miller on September 12, 1952 and they have two children, Rachael and David. They were subsequently divorced. (Bowker Author Biography) Gerald Stern lives in Lambertville, New Jersey. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Gerald Stern
In Beauty Bright 1 copy
Associated Works
Buzz Words: Poems About Insects (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) (2021) — Contributor — 56 copies
Poetry East : number twenty & twenty-one fall 1986 : poetics — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Stern, Gerald Daniel
- Birthdate
- 1925-02-22
- Date of death
- 2022-10-27
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Pittsburgh
Columbia University
University of Paris - Occupations
- poet
essayist
teacher - Organizations
- Temple University
Iowa Writers' Workshop - Awards and honors
- Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1996)
Wallace Stevens Award (2005)
Academy of American Poets (1993) - Relationships
- Macari, Anne Marie (partner)
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Miami Beach, Florida, USA - Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I was lucky enough to attend a reading by Gerald Stern years ago at Warren County Community College in New Jersey (thanks to B.J. Ward and Brian Bradford), during which he signed my copy of this book, including a separate signature on the page containing one of my favorite poems in the collection, Lillian Harvey. Stern's poems are unflinchingly personal, gritty and rough in the way that self-reflection should be, yet compassionate and accessible.
Personal favorites from this collection:
This show more Was a Wonderful Night
Lillian Harvey
Bob Summers' Body show less
Personal favorites from this collection:
This show more Was a Wonderful Night
Lillian Harvey
Bob Summers' Body show less
Stern is great at capturing snapshot images. Many of these poems focus on Stern's memories of his life in the twentieth century. He references wars, Orson Welles, Ted Berrigan's funeral, and Ezra Pound, as well as personal moments, like his sister's death. In true contemporary fashion, he seems to be intentionally obscure and cryptic at times. Stern often mixes concrete images with abstract, and likes to end his short poems with surprising lines.
The poem "Lucky Life" includes a wonderful passage returning to the ocean:
"Dear waves, what will you do for me this year?
Will you drown out my scream?
Will you let me rise through the fog?
Will you fill me with that old salt feeling?
Will you let me take my long steps in the cold sand?
Will you let me lie on the white bedspread and study
the black clouds with the blue holes in them?
Will you let me see the rusty trees and the old monoplanes one more year?
Will you still let me draw my sacred show more figures
and move the kites and the birds around with my dark mind?"
i love this poem show less
"Dear waves, what will you do for me this year?
Will you drown out my scream?
Will you let me rise through the fog?
Will you fill me with that old salt feeling?
Will you let me take my long steps in the cold sand?
Will you let me lie on the white bedspread and study
the black clouds with the blue holes in them?
Will you let me see the rusty trees and the old monoplanes one more year?
Will you still let me draw my sacred show more figures
and move the kites and the birds around with my dark mind?"
i love this poem show less
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Also by
- 24
- Members
- 708
- Popularity
- #35,796
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 62
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 5