Mark Strand
Mark Strand
Mark Strandwas a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004. Strand was a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University from 2005 until his death in 2014...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth11 April 1934
CountryUnited States of America
writing creative program
Poetry is something that happens in universities, in creative writing programs or in English departments.
thinking personality triumph
I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.
feelings burial
The burial of feelings has begun.
fate destiny dumb
Nothing is the destiny of everyone, it is our commonness made dumb.
writing want stuff
There's a certain point, when you're writing autobiographical stuff, where you don't want to misrepresent yourself. It would be dishonest.
engagement bores
I tend to like poems that engage me - that is to say, which do not bore me.
america mainstream-society culture
I certainly can't speak for all cultures or all societies, but it's clear that in America, poetry serves a very marginal purpose. It's not part of the cultural mainstream.
reading government world
If every head of state and every government official spent an hour a day reading poetry we'd live in a much more humane and decent world.
writing thinking people
A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.
light late happens
Even this late it happens: the coming of love, the coming of light.
time stress fresh-start
Each moment is a place you've never been.
writing humor hard
It's very hard to write humor.
silence shadow sun
When we walk in the sun our shadows are like barges of silence.
poetry
Usually a life turned into a poem is misrepresented.