Allen Grossman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Allen Grossman
|
|
|---|---|
| Born | January 7, 1932 Minneapolis, Minnesota, US |
| Died | June 27, 2014 (aged 82) Chelsea, Massachusetts, US |
| Occupation |
|
| Alma mater | Harvard (BA, MA), Brandeis University (Phd) |
| Period | 1959–2009 |
| Genre | Poetry, essay |
| Notable awards | Bollingen Prize (2009) |
| Spouse | Judith Grossman |
| Children | 5 |
Allen R. Grossman (born January 7, 1932 – died June 27, 2014) was an important American poet, critic, and professor. He was known for his thoughtful poems and his work teaching about poetry.
About Allen Grossman
Allen Grossman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1932. He went to Harvard University and later earned his PhD from Brandeis University in 1960. He taught at Brandeis for many years, until 1991.
After leaving Brandeis, he became a professor at Johns Hopkins University. There, he taught in the English Department until 2005. He mainly focused on teaching about poetry and how poems are made. Even after he stopped teaching full-time, he continued to write.
Grossman was raised in a Jewish family.
He was married to the novelist Judith Grossman. They had three children together: Bathsheba, Austin, and Lev. He also had two children from a previous marriage, Jonathan and Adam.
In 2006, when he retired, many of his friends, fellow writers, and students gathered to honor him. They read some of his poems and shared their appreciation for his work. This special event ended with Grossman himself reading poems from his book, Descartes' Loneliness.
Allen Grossman passed away on June 27, 2014, at the age of 82.
Awards and Honors
Allen Grossman received many awards for his writing and teaching throughout his life. These awards show how much his work was valued.
- Garrison Award for Poetry (195?)
- Prize of the American Academy of Poetry (195?)
- A. B. Cohen Award for Teaching (1965)
- The Pushcart Prize (1975, 1987, 1990)
- Brandeis University Distinguished Service Award (1982)
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1982)
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1985)
- CASE Massachusetts State Professor of the Year (1987)
- Sara Teasdale Memorial Prize in Poetry (1987)
- Sheaffer-PEN/New England Award for Literary Distinction (1988)
- MacArthur Fellowship (1989)
- National Book Critics Circle Award nominee (1992)
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow (1993)
- Bollingen Prize (2009)
His Legacy
Allen Grossman's ideas about poetry have influenced other writers. For example, the writer Ben Lerner talks a lot about Grossman's impact on poetry in his book The Hatred of Poetry. This shows that Grossman's work continues to be important to people who study and write poetry.
