Amy Clampitt (June 15, 1920 – September 10, 1994) was an
American poet
The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I–J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
*George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942)
R
...
and author.
Life
Clampitt was born on June 15, 1920, of
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
parents, and brought up in
New Providence, Iowa
New Providence is a small city in Hardin County, Iowa, United States. The population was 236 at the time of the 2020 census.
History
New Providence was laid out in 1855.
New Providence was struck by a tornado in 1860 and much of its business dis ...
. In the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
and at nearby
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College.
Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...
she began a study of
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
that eventually led her to poetry. She graduated from Grinnell College, and from that time on lived mainly in New York City. To support herself, she worked as a secretary at the
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, a
reference librarian
The reference desk or information desk of a library is a public service counter where professional librarians provide library users with direction to library materials, advice on library collections and services, and expertise on multiple kinds ...
at the
Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...
, and a freelance editor. Not until the mid-1960s, when she was in her forties, did she return to writing poetry. Her first poem was published by ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 1978. In 1983, at the age of sixty-three, she published her first full-length collection, ''The Kingfisher''. In the decade that followed, Clampitt published five books of poetry, including ''What the Light Was Like'' (1985), ''Archaic Figure'' (1987), and ''Westward'' (1990). Her last book, ''A Silence Opens'', appeared in 1994. She also published a book of essays and several privately printed editions of her longer poems. She taught at the
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
,
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
, and
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
, but it was her time spent in Manhattan, in a remote part of Maine, and on various trips to Europe, the former Soviet Union, Iowa, Wales, and England that most directly influenced her work. Clampitt was the recipient of a 198
Guggenheim Fellowship MacArthur Fellowship (1992) and she was a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
and the
American Academy of Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...
. She died of cancer in September 1994.
Awards
Clampitt earned a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992 for her writing. She was also awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US and Canada, in 1982, under the poetry category.
Works
Poetry collections
* ''Multitudes, Multitudes'' (Washington Street Press, 1973).
* ''The Isthmus'' (1981).
* ''The Summer Solstice'' (Sarabande Press, 1983).
* ''The Kingfisher'' (Knopf, 1983). .
* ''What the Light Was Like'' (Knopf, 1983). .
* ''Archaic Figure'' (Knopf, 1987). .
* ''Westward'' (Knopf, 1990). .
* ''Manhattan: An Elegy, and Other Poems'' (University of Iowa Center for the Book, 1990).
* ''A Silence Opens'' (Knopf, 1994). .
* ''The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt'' (Knopf, 1997). .
* " A Homage to John Keats" (The Sarabande Press, 1984)
Prose
* ''A Homage to John Keats'' (Sarabande Press, 1984).
* ''The Essential Donne'' (Ecco Press, 1988). .
* ''Predecessors, Et Cetera: Essays'' (University of Michigan Press, 1991). .
References
External links
The Amy Clampitt FundClampitt's Academy of American Poets page"Clampitt, Amy: Introduction"''Poetry Criticism.'' Vol. 19, edited by Carol T. Gaffke (Thomson Gale, 1997).
*
* Catherine Cucinella, ed.
Contemporary American Women Poets: An A-Z guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clampitt, Amy
1920 births
1994 deaths
20th-century American poets
American women poets
Amherst College faculty
College of William & Mary faculty
Grinnell College alumni
MacArthur Fellows
Smith College faculty
20th-century American women writers
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters