Charles Olson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Olson
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| Born | 27 December 1910 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | 10 January 1970 (aged 59) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Gloucester, Massachusetts |
| Education | Wesleyan University B.A., 1932; M.A., 1933 Harvard University Graduate work in American Studies, 1936-1939 |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Literary movement | Postmodernism |
| Notable works | The Distances, The Maximus Poems |
| Spouse | Constance (Connie) Wilcock Elizabeth (Betty) Kaiser |
| Children | 2 |
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Charles Olson (born December 27, 1910 – died January 10, 1970) was a very important American poet. He helped connect older famous poets like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams with newer groups of poets. These newer groups included the Black Mountain School and the Beat poets. Olson saw himself as an "archeologist of morning." This meant he loved to dig deep into history and ideas, like an archaeologist digs for ancient treasures.
Contents
Charles Olson's Early Life and Education
Charles Olson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. His father worked as a mail carrier. Charles spent his summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This city later became very special to him and a main topic in his writings.
In high school, Charles was a champion speaker. He even won a trip to Europe, where he met the famous poet William Butler Yeats. He went to Wesleyan University and studied English literature. He earned his first degree in 1932 and a master's degree in 1933. For his master's, he wrote about the author Herman Melville.
After college, Olson taught English at Clark University. He then went to Harvard University to study for his doctorate. He also worked as a teacher there. Even though he finished his classes, he didn't complete his final paper to get his doctorate.
Olson received special grants called Guggenheim Fellowships to continue his studies on Melville. His book about Melville, called Call Me Ishmael, was published in 1947. He started writing his own poems in 1940.
Olson's Work in Washington D.C.
In 1941, Olson moved to New York City. He lived with Constance "Connie" Wilcock, and they had a daughter named Katherine. During this time, he worked for groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.
Later, he moved to Washington, D.C.. He worked for the Office of War Information, which shared news during World War II. He became an associate chief there.
In 1944, Olson joined the Democratic National Committee. He helped with Franklin Roosevelt's presidential campaign. He even helped organize a big rally in New York City. After Roosevelt was re-elected, Olson was offered important jobs in the government. But he was starting to feel less interested in politics.
When President Roosevelt passed away in 1945, Olson decided to focus completely on his writing career. From 1946 to 1948, he visited Ezra Pound, another poet, who was in a hospital.
Teaching at Black Mountain College
In 1948, Olson became a visiting professor at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. This was a special school known for its creative and experimental teaching. He worked with artists like the composer John Cage and the poet Robert Creeley.
In 1951, he became a permanent teacher and soon after, the Rector (like a principal) of the college. While at Black Mountain, he had a son, Charles Peter Olson, with Betty Kaiser. Betty became his partner.
Black Mountain College faced money problems, but Olson helped keep it going. Many important artists and writers of the 1950s, like Allen Ginsberg and Robert Duncan, worked there. Olson's ideas also influenced artists in other fields.
Olson was a very tall man, about 6 feet 8 inches! People described him as "a bear of a man." He wrote many letters and encouraged young writers. His ideas came from many different sources, including ancient Mayan writing, Sumerian religion, and philosophy.
When Black Mountain College closed in 1956, Olson helped sort out its finances. He then settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Connecticut. He also received support from a publisher, which allowed him to focus on his writing in Gloucester.
Olson faced health challenges that led to his early passing. He died in 1970, just after his 59th birthday. He was still working on his most famous long poem, The Maximus Poems, when he passed away.
Charles Olson's Important Works
What Was Call Me Ishmael?
Olson's first book, Call Me Ishmael (1947), was a study of Herman Melville's famous novel Moby Dick. This book grew out of his master's thesis from college.
What Was Projective Verse?
In 1950, Olson wrote an important essay called Projective Verse. In this essay, he suggested a new way for poets to write. He believed that the rhythm of a poem should be based on the poet's own breathing. He also thought poems should be open and free, focusing on sounds and connections between ideas, rather than strict grammar or logic. He wanted poems to be seen and heard clearly on the page.
His poem "The Kingfishers" is an example of these ideas. It was published in his first poetry book, In Cold Hell, in Thicket (1953). His second collection of poems, The Distances, came out in 1960.
Olson is best known for his complex poems like "The Kingfishers." These poems often explore social issues, history, and politics. But he also wrote shorter poems that are easier to understand. These poems show his honest, original, and emotional voice. Olson also created the term "postmodern" in a letter he wrote in 1951.
What Are The Maximus Poems?
In 1950, Olson started writing his most famous work, The Maximus Poems. This was a very long poem, like an epic. It explored American history in a big way. But it was also very focused on the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Olson lived. A wild, rocky area near Gloucester called Dogtown was a very important place in these poems. Olson often wrote while sitting on a tree stump in Dogtown.
The whole poem is told through the voice of a character named Maximus. This character was partly based on an ancient Greek philosopher and partly on Olson himself. The last part of the poem imagines an ideal Gloucester, where community values are more important than money. When Olson knew he was dying, he gave instructions for how to finish and publish the final book of The Maximus Poems.
See also
In Spanish: Charles Olson para niños
- Niagara Frontier Review
Correspondence
- Mayan Letters, ed. Robert Creeley (Mallorca: Divers Press, 1953; London: Jonathan Cape, 1968).
- Letters for Origin 1950-1956, ed. Albert Glover (New York: Cape Goliard, 1970).
- Charles Olson and Robert Creeley: The Complete Correspondence, eds. George F. Butterick & Richard Blevins, 10 vols. (Black Sparrow Press, 1980–96).
- Charles Olson & Cid Corman: Complete Correspondence 1950-1964, ed. George Evans, 2 vols. (Orono, ME: National Poetry Foundation, 1987, 1991).
- In Love, In Sorrow: The Complete Correspondence of Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg, ed. Paul Christensen (New York: Paragon House, 1990).
- Charles Olson and Frances Boldereff: A Modern Correspondence, eds. Ralph Maud & Sharon Thesen (Wesleyan University Press, 1999).
- Selected Letters, ed. Ralph Maud (Berkeley: U of California Press, 2001).
- After Completion: The Later Letters of Charles Olson and Frances Boldereff, eds. Sharon Thesen & Ralph Maud (Talonbooks, 2014).
- An Open Map: The Correspondence of Robert Duncan and Charles Olson, eds. Robert J. Bertholf & Dale M. Smith (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2017).
- The Collected Letters of Charles Olson and J.H. Prynne, ed. Ryan Dobran (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2017).
