Stevens, Wallace, 1879-1955

Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.

Wallace Stevens was an American essayist, playwright, and poet.

Wallace Stevens was an American poet.

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) was one of the foremost American poets of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Stevens retained an interest during his lifetime in his native Berks County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens, came from Reading, and both Stevens and his wife devoted considerable time and energy (primarily in the 1940's) tracing their family ancestries. Though Stevens refused to consider his life a dichotomy, his poetic activities were accomplished while he was holding a full-time position as a legal advisor for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company in Hartford, Connecticut, the firm for which he acted as Vice-President from 1934 until his death in 1955. Stevens ens began writing verse as a student at Harvard University and had a number of his verses published in the Harvard Advocate and the Harvard Monthly between 1898 and 1900. In 1908 and 1909 Stevens presented his future wife, Elsie Viola Moll, with two little notebooks of poems (A Book of Verses and The Little June Book) which gathered together short poems Stevens had been experimenting with since leaving Harvard. Between 1914 and 1923 Stevens submitted poems to a number of journals, including Poetry (edited by Harriet Monroe), The Dial and Others (edited by Alfred Kreymborg). In 1923 was published Stevens' first book of poems, Harmonium. With Harmonium began a lifelong association with the publishing firm Alfred A. Knopf Inc. Stevens did, however, offer the small fine press, the Cummington Press, three of his books: Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), Esthitique du Mal (1945) and Three Academic Pieces (1947). The Alcestis Press, under the direction of Ronald Lane Latimer, printed Ideas of Order (1935) and Owl's Clover (1936). Stevens was twice awarded the National Book Award: in 1950 for The Auroras of Autumn (1950) and in 1954 for Collected Poems (1954). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1955.

Wallace Stevens and Carl Zigrosser met through their mutual friend, Walter Pach. Stevens purchased prints at Keppel & Co. and the Weyhe Gallery from Zigrosser. Zigrosser interested Stevens in the journal that he edited, The Modern School, where Stevens published several poems.

Stevens was an American poet.

Poet Wallace Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and studied at Harvard, where he indulged his literary leanings. Taking a law degree from New York Law School, he accepted a position with the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, where he remained for the rest of his career, being named vice-president in 1934. He also wrote poetry, adored by other poets but largely ignored by the public, which exercised the imagination in new and exciting ways--precise yet abstract, philosophical yet whimsical. Gradually, his work became widely known, and he was recognized with two National Book Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Today, Stevens is acknowledged as one of the best and most influential poets of the twentieth century.

Epithet: poet

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) was one of the foremost American poets of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Stevens retained an interest during his lifetime in his native Berks County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens, came from Reading, and both Stevens and his wife devoted considerable time and energy (primarily in the 1940's) tracing their family ancestries. Though Stevens refused to consider his life a dichotomy, his poetic activities were accomplished while he was holding a full-time position as a legal advisor for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company in Hartford, Connecticut, the firm for which he acted as Vice-President from 1934 until his death in 1955.

Stevens began writing verse as a student at Harvard University and had a number of his verses published in the Harvard Advocate and the Harvard Monthly between 1898 and 1900. In 1908 and 1909 Stevens presented his future wife, Elsie Viola Moll, with two little notebooks of poems ( A Book of Verses and The Little June Book) which gathered together short poems Stevens had been experimenting with since leaving Harvard. Between 1914 and 1923 Stevens submitted poems to a number of journals, including Poetry (edited by Harriet Monroe), The Dial and Others (edited by Alfred Kreymborg). In 1923 was published Stevens' first book of poems, Harmonium. With Harmonium began a lifelong association with the publishing firm Alfred A. Knopf Inc. Stevens did, however, offer the small fine press, the Cummington Press, three of his books: Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), Esthitique du Mal (1945) and Three Academic Pieces (1947). The Alcestis Press, under the direction of Ronald Lane Latimer, printed Ideas of Order (1935) and Owl's Clover (1936). Stevens was twice awarded the National Book Award: in 1950 for The Auroras of Autumn (1950) and in 1954 for Collected Poems (1954). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1955.

Biographical Sketch

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) was one of the foremost American poets of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Stevens retained an interest during his lifetime in his native Berks County, Pennsylvania. His wife, Elsie Viola (Moll) Stevens, came from Reading, and both Stevens and his wife devoted considerable time and energy (primarily in the 1940's) tracing their family ancestries.

Though Stevens refused to consider his life a dichotomy, his poetic activities were accomplished while he was holding a full-time position as a legal advisor for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company in Hartford, Connecticut, the firm for which he acted as Vice-President from 1934 until his death in 1955.

Stevens began writing verse as a student at Harvard University and had a number of his verses published in the Harvard Advocate and the Harvard Monthly between 1898 and 1900. In 1908 and 1909 Stevens presented his future wife, Elsie Viola Moll, with two little notebooks of poems ( A Book of Verses and The Little June Book) which gathered together short poems Stevens had been experimenting with since leaving Harvard. Between 1914 and 1923 Stevens submitted poems to a number of journals, including Poetry (edited by Harriet Monroe), The Dial and Others (edited by Alfred Kreymborg). In 1923 was published Stevens' first book of poems, Harmonium. With Harmonium began a lifelong association with the publishing firm Alfred A. Knopf Inc. Stevens did, however, offer the small fine press, the Cummington Press, three of his books: Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), Esthitique du Mal (1945) and Three Academic Pieces (1947). The Alcestis Press, under the direction of Ronald Lane Latimer, printed Ideas of Order (1935) and Owl's Clover (1936).

Stevens was twice awarded the National Book Award: in 1950 for The Auroras of Autumn (1950) and in 1954 for Collected Poems (1954). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1955.