Richard Wilbur

Early years

Wilbur was born in New York City on March 1, 1921, and grew up in North Caldwell, New Jersey. At Amherst College, he also displayed his "ample literary gifts" as one of the "sharpest" reporters for the college newspaper, edited by upperclassman Robert Morgenthau. After graduation in 1942, he served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. He attended graduate school at Harvard University. Wilbur taught at Wellesley College, then Wesleyan University for two decades and at Smith College for another decade. At Wesleyan he was instrumental in founding the award-winning poetry series of the Wesleyan University Press. He received two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and taught at Amherst College as late as 2009, where he also served on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common.

Literary career

When only eight years old, Wilbur published his first poem in John Martin's Magazine. His first book, The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems, appeared in 1947. Thereafter he published several volumes of poetry, including New and Collected Poems (Faber, 1989). Wilbur was also a translator, specializing in the 17th century French comedies of Molière and dramas of Jean Racine. His translation of Tartuffe has become the play's standard English version and has been presented on television twice (a 1978 production is available on DVD). Wilbur also published several children's books, including Opposites, More Opposites, and The Disappearing Alphabet. In 1959 he became the general editor of The Laurel Poetry Series (Dell Publishing).

Continuing the tradition of Robert Frost and W. H. Auden, Wilbur's poetry finds illumination in everyday experiences. Less well-known is Wilbur's foray into writing theatre lyrics. He provided lyrics to several songs in Leonard Bernstein's 1956 musical Candide, including the famous "Glitter and Be Gay" and "Make Our Garden Grow". He also produced several unpublished works, including "The Wing" and "To Beatrice".

His honors included the 1983 Drama Desk Special Award and the PEN Translation Prize for his translation of The Misanthrope, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the National Book Award for Things of This World (1956), "National Book Awards – 1957". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-02.

(With acceptance speech by Wilbur and essay by Patrick Rosal from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) the Edna St Vincent Millay award, the Bollingen Prize, and the Chevalier, Ordre des Palmes Académiques. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959. In 1987 Wilbur became the second poet, after Robert Penn Warren, to be named U.S. Poet Laureate after the position's title was changed from Poetry Consultant. In 1988 he won the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry and in 1989 he won a second Pulitzer, for his New and Collected Poems. On October 14, 1994, he received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. He also received the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 1994. In 2003 Wilbur was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2006 he won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. In 2010 he won the National Translation Award for the translation of The Theatre of Illusion by Pierre Corneille. In 2012 Yale University conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters on Wilbur. He had a literary correspondence with Catholic nun, literary critic and poet M. Bernetta Quinn.

Wilbur died on October 14, 2017, at a nursing home in Belmont, Massachusetts, from natural causes aged 96.

Awards and honors

During his lifetime, Wilbur received numerous awards in recognition of his work, including:

• Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts (1952, 1963)
• Poetry Society of America Millay Award (1957)
• National Book Award for Poetry (1957) for Things of This World
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1957, 1989) for Things of This World, New and Collected Poems
• Bollingen Prize for Poetry (1971)
• Shelley Memorial Award (1973)
• New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical (1973–1974) for Candide
• Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical (1973–1974) for Candide
• Drama Desk Special Award (1983) for translation of The Misanthrope
• United States Poet Laureate (1987–1988)
• Laurence Olivier Award for Musical of the Year (1988) for Candide
• St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates
• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry (1991)
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1995)
• PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation (1994)
• Frost Medal (1996)
• Wallace Stevens Award (2003)
• Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2006)
• Edward MacDowell Medal (1992)

Bibliography

Poetry collections

• 1947: The Beautiful Changes, and Other Poems
• 1950: Ceremony, and Other Poems
• 1955: A Bestiary
• 1956: Things of This World – won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and National Book Award, both in 1957
• 1961: Advice to a Prophet, and Other Poems
• 1969: Walking to Sleep: New Poems and Translations
• 1976: The Mind-Reader: New Poems
• 1988: New and Collected Poems – won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1989
• 2000: Mayflies: New Poems and Translations
• 2004: Collected Poems, 1943–2004
• 2010: Anterooms

Editor

• 2003 Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics

Selected poems available online

Prose collections

• 1976: Responses: Prose Pieces, 1953–1976
• 1997: The Catbird's Song: Prose Pieces, 1963–1995

Translated plays from other authors

Translated from Molière

• The Misanthrope (1955/1666)
• Tartuffe (1963/1669)
• The School for Wives (1971/1662)
• The Learned Ladies (1978/1672)
• The School for Husbands (1992/1661)
• The Imaginary Cuckold, or Sganarelle (1993/1660)
• Amphitryon (1995/1668)
• The Bungler (2000/1655)
• Don Juan (2001/1665)
• Lovers' Quarrels (2009/1656)
• Molière: The Complete Richard Wilbur Translations (2021)

From Jean Racine

• Andromache (1982/1667)
• Phaedra (1986/1677)
• The Suitors (2001/1668)

From Pierre Corneille

• The Theatre of Illusion (2007/1636)
• Le Cid (2009/1636)
• The Liar (2009/1643)

References

Citations

Sources

• .

References

1. King, Brendan D., ''The Poet and the Counterrevolution: Richard Wilbur, the Free Verse Revolution, and the Revival of Rhymed Poetry'', [[St Austin Review]], March/April 2020, ''American Literature in the Twentieth Century'', pp. 15–19.
2. [http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000016 Music Theatre International. ''Candide (1973)'']
3. King, Brendan D., ''The Poet and the Counterrevolution: Richard Wilbur, the Free Verse Revolution, and the Revival of Rhymed Poetry'', [[St Austin Review]], March/April 2020, ''American Literature in the Twentieth Century'', po. 15–19.
4. (2008). "Poet Laureate Timeline: 1981–1990". [[Library of Congress]].
5. In 1938 he graduated from [[Montclair High School (New Jersey). Montclair High School]], where he worked on the school newspaper.[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/richard-purdy-wilbur-dlb/ Richard (Purdy) Wilbur], from the ''[[Dictionary of Literary Biography]]''. Accessed January 1, 2012. "Wilbur showed an early interest in writing, which he has attributed to his mother's family because her father was an editor of the Baltimore Sun and her grandfather was an editor and a publisher of small papers aligned with the Democratic party. At Montclair High School, from which he graduated in 1938, Wilbur wrote editorials for the school newspaper."
6. (2022). "Morgenthau". Random House.
7. "Wilbur biography". [[University of Illinois]].
8. Gordon, Jane. (October 16, 2005). "The University of Verse". [[The New York Times]].
9. "Faculty staff". [[Amherst College]].
10. (July 15, 2016). "About The Common – The Common".
11. (October 16, 2017). "Richard Wilbur, Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Winner, Dies at 96". [[The New York Times]].
12. Ferney, Mark. (October 15, 2017). "Richard Wilbur, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 96". [[Boston Globe]].
13. (October 16, 2017). "Richard Wilbur in the New Yorker".
14. (October 16, 2017). "Richard Wilbur, Who Twice Won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Dies at 96". [[Los Angeles Times]].
15. (Winter 1977). "Richard Wilbur, The Art of Poetry No. 22". [[The Paris Review]].
16. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W". [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].
17. "2004 Inductees of Theatre Hall of Fame Announced". www.playbill.com.
18. Ripatrazone, Nick. (2023). "The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Mid-century America". 1517 Media.
19. "Mary Bernetta Quinn Papers, 1937–1998".
20. "Sister Mary Bernetta Quinn papers".
21. Ferney, Mark. (October 15, 2017). "Richard Wilbur, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 96". [[The Boston Globe]].
22. . ["All Fellows"](http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/). *[[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]]*.
23. . ["A Century of American Poetry"](https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/about/mission/).
24. . ["National Book Awards – 1957"](https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1957#.V41tqmQrK2w).
25. . ["Poetry"](http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/224).
26. . ["The Bollingen Prize for Poetry"](http://bollingen.yale.edu/). *[[Yale University]]*.
27. . ["Shelley Winners"](https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/frost_and_shelley/shelley_winners/).
28. . ["Past Awards"](http://www.dramacritics.org/dc_pastawards.html#1974). *[[New York Drama Critics' Circle]]*.
29. . ["Awards for 1973–1974"](http://outercritics.org/award-results/awards-for-1973-1974/).
30. . ["Awards"](http://www.dramadesk.org/awards).
31. Peter Armenti. (June 10, 2015). "United States Poets Laureate: A Guide to Online Resources".
32. . ["Olivier Winners 1988"](http://www.olivierawards.com/winners/view/item98523/olivier-winners-1988/).
33. "Saint Louis Literary Award - Saint Louis University".
34. Saint Louis University Library Associates. "Recipients of the St. Louis Literary Award".
35. . ["Gold Medal"](http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Gold%20Literature). *[[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]*.
36. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". [[American Academy of Achievement]].
37. . (April 29, 2016). ["PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation Winners"](https://pen.org/penralph-manheim-medal-translation-winners).
38. . ["Frost Medalists"](https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/frost_and_shelley/frost_winners/).
39. . ["Wallace Stevens Award"](https://www.poets.org/academy-american-poets/prizes/wallace-stevens-award).
40. . ["Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize"](http://www.poetryfoundation.org/programs/foundation/awards/detail/ruth-lilly-poetry-prize).
41. "MacDowell Medal winners {{mdash}} 1960{{ndash}}2011". [[The Daily Telegraph.
42. (October 18, 2017). "Richard Wilbur".
43. Carlson, Michael. (October 17, 2017). "Richard Wilbur obituary". [[The Guardian]].
44. "Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics".
45. (1966). "The Misanthrope". Dramatists Play Service.
46. (1991). "Tartuffe". Dramatists Play Service.
47. (October 1991). "The School for Wives". Dramatists Play Service.
48. (1977). "The Learned Ladies". Dramatists Play Service.
49. (October 1991). "School for Husbands". Dramatists Play Service.
50. (1993). "The Imaginary Cuckold, or Sganarelle". Dramatists Play Service.
51. (1995). "Amphitryon". Dramatists Play Service.
52. (2000). "The Bungler". Dramatists Play Service.
53. (1998). "Don Juan". Dramatists Play Service.
54. (2007). "Lovers' Quarrels". Dramatists Play Service.
55. "Forthcoming: Summer and Fall 2021".
56. (1982). "Andromache". Dramatists Play Service.
57. (1986). "Phædra". Dramatists Play Service.
58. (2001). "The Suitors". Dramatists Play Service.
59. Corneille, Pierre. (April 2, 2007). "The Theatre of Illusion". Mariner books.
60. (2012). "Le Cid". Dramatists Play Service.
61. (2012). "The Liar". Dramatists Play Service.