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The May
Swenson Poetry Award, sponsored by Utah State University Press, is a competitive prize granted annually to an outstanding collection of poetry in English. Open to published and unpublished writers, with no limitation on subject, the competition honors May Swenson as one of America's most
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also has two collections of her work, and an addendum in their
Special Collections and Archives. The University has created the "May Swenson Project." Supported by students and teachers, it has publicized Swenson's work at USU, as well as her influence across the nation. In her name, USU has
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household where
Swedish was spoken regularly and English was a second language. Although her conservative family struggled to accept the fact that she was a lesbian, they remained close throughout her life. Much of her later poetry works were devoted to children (e.g. the collection
442:, explored the late Kennedy's military funeral, with lines arranged in the shape of a folded flag. Swenson is known for her heavy use of natural imagery, mixed with religious and philosophical themes. Her poem "By Morning", which was published in
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In 1936, Swenson worked as an editor and ghostwriter for a man called "Plat", who became her "boyfriend." "I think I should like to have a son by Plat", she wrote in her diary, "but I would not like to be married to any man, but only be myself."
452:. Swenson's sense of imagery also lends itself to erotic poems, as she describes human bodies, breasts and limbs and the "pelvic heave of mountains." Author Jean Gould describes Swenson's work as "sensual as well as sexual."
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from 1980 until her death in 1989. She is buried in the Logan City
Cemetery, and her grave is marked by a granite bench on which is etched some of her poetry. For the last twenty years of her life, she lived in
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292:. Swenson left New Directions Press in 1966 in an effort to focus completely on her own writing. She also served as a Chancellor of the
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houses most of
Swenson's documents and original manuscripts. This is the primary location for all scholarly materials on Swenson.
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by R. R. Knudson & Suzzane
Bigelow with a foreword by Richard Wilbur (Utah State University Press, 1996),
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268:, graduating in the class of 1934 with a bachelor's degree. She taught poetry as poet-in-residence at
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The first child of
Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson, she grew up as the eldest of 10 children in a
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vital and provocative poets of the twentieth century. Judges for the competition have included
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considered her one of the most important and original poets of the 20th century.
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dedicated a May
Swenson room in the English Department and another in the USU
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228:(May 28, 1913 – December 4, 1989) was an American poet and playwright.
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She received much recognition for her work. Some of which include:
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William Rose Benet Prize of the Poetry
Society of America in 1959;
784:"Archives West: The May Swenson photograph collection, 1938-1991"
634:"May Swenson, a Humorous Poet of Cerebral Verse, is Dead at 76"
714:"Blue by May Swenson - Poems | Academy of American Poets"
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Windows and Stones: Selected Poems of Tomas
Tranströmer (1972)
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New & Selected Things Taking Place (Little, Brown, 1978);
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The May Swenson Papers at Washington University in St. Louis
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Made With Words, ed. Gardner McFall (U of Mich Press, 1998).
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The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators
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To Mix with Time: New and Selected Poems (Scribner, 1963);
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Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More - May Swenson
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Lucy Martin Donnelly Award of Bryn Mawr College in 1968;
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Poems to Solve (for children "14-up") (Scribner, 1966);
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National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in 1960;
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and others from the first tier of American letters.
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Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
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Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
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60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
809:"Archives West: May Swenson addendum, 1932-1997"
400:Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in 1967;
733:. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. pp.
513:Digitized selected works by and about Swenson:
759:"Archives West: May Swenson papers, 1932-1998"
657:. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p.
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448:compares a snowfall to the biblical fall of
557:Collected Poems (Library of America, 2013).
838:. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 358.
434:" style, first published in her 1970 book
274:University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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608:"They have the numbers; we, the heights,"
412:Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship in 1960,
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
632:Bernstein, Richard (December 5, 1989).
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548:More Poems to Solve (Scribner, 1971);
542:Half Sun Half Sleep (Scribner, 1967);
515:May Swenson Addendum (Selected items)
388:American Introductions Prize in 1955;
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693:May Swenson: A Poet's Life in Photos
58:adding citations to reliable sources
990:20th-century American women writers
418:Bollingen Prize for poetry in 1981,
278:University of California, Riverside
1000:20th-century American LGBTQ people
920:American people of Swedish descent
533:A Cage of Spines (Rinehart, 1958);
461:Washington University in St. Louis
394:Longview Foundation Award in 1959;
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865:Spring 1991, Volume 8.1 (Poetry)
530:Another Animal (Scribner, 1954);
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980:People from Sea Cliff, New York
45:needs additional citations for
18:Iconographs (poetry collection)
409:Guggenheim fellowship in 1959,
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965:Utah State University faculty
813:archiveswest.orbiscascade.org
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622:. Accessed February 15, 2012.
554:In Other Words (Knopf, 1987);
545:Iconographs (Scribner, 1970);
421:MacArthur Fellowship in 1987.
415:Ford Foundation grant in 1964
960:Utah State University alumni
426:Style, imagery and eroticism
406:Shelley Poetry Award in 1968
308:Her poems were published in
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886:Robert A. Wilson collection
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935:American lesbian writers
940:LGBTQ Latter Day Saints
613:April 26, 2012, at the
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930:Latter Day Saint poets
472:Merrill-Cazier Library
380:Awards and recognition
366:was also published in
467:Utah State University
286:Utah State University
262:Utah State University
210:Utah State University
925:American women poets
727:Gould, Jean (1984).
651:Gould, Jean (1984).
317:The Atlantic Monthly
54:improve this article
880:May Swenson Society
323:Carleton Miscellany
299:Sea Cliff, New York
638:The New York Times
950:MacArthur Fellows
440:Robert F. Kennedy
282:Purdue University
270:Bryn Mawr College
260:Swenson attended
250:Tomas Tranströmer
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52:Please help
47:verification
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910:1989 deaths
905:1913 births
871:, Poets.org
869:Swenson bio
496:Alice Quinn
480:Mary Oliver
436:Iconographs
362:. Her poem
266:Logan, Utah
242:Iconographs
198:Nationality
159:Logan, Utah
138:May Swenson
899:Categories
594:References
432:iconograph
329:The Nation
188:Playwright
183:Occupation
110:March 2013
80:newspapers
492:Mark Doty
353:Parnassus
248:laureate
186:Poet and
818:June 14,
793:June 14,
768:June 14,
703:, p. 39.
611:Archived
582:See also
373:The Host
370:'s book
364:Question
201:American
311:Antaeus
226:Swenson
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