Allen Tate
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John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 – February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet,
essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
ist, social commentator, and
poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...
from 1943 to 1944.


Life


Early years

Tate was born near
Winchester, Kentucky Winchester is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Clark County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 18,368 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winchester is located ro ...
, to John Orley Tate, a Kentucky businessman and Eleanor Parke Custis Varnell from Virginia. On the Bogan side of her grandmother's family Eleanor Varnell was a distant relative of
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
; she left Tate a copper luster pitcher that Washington had ordered from London for his sister. In 1916 and 1917 Tate studied the violin at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, wh ...
.


College and the Fugitives

Tate entered
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in 1918. He was the first undergraduate to be invited to join a group of men who met regularly to read and discuss their poetry: they included
John Crowe Ransom John Crowe Ransom (April 30, 1888 – July 3, 1974) was an American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon ...
and Donald Davidson on the faculty; James M. Frank, a prominent Nashville businessman who hosted the meetings; and
Sidney Mttron Hirsch Sidney Mttron Hirsch (January 3, 1884 – April 7, 1962) was an American model and playwright. He was a model for sculptors Auguste Rodin and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. He was a member of The Fugitives. Early life Sidney Mttron Hirsch was bo ...
, a Jewish mystic and playwright, who presided. In 1922, the group began publishing a poetry magazine named ''The Fugitive''; so the group was known as the
Fugitives A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also kno ...
. Tate took along a younger friend to some meetings, sophomore
Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...
, who was invited to become a member in 1923. The aim of the group, according to the critic J. A. Bryant, was "to demonstrate that a group of southerners could produce important work in the medium f poetry devoid of sentimentality and carefully crafted," and they wrote in the formalist tradition that valued the skillful use of
meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
and rhyme. When Robert Penn Warren left Southwestern College to accept a position at
Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...
, he recommended Tate to replace him. Tate accepted the position, and spent 1934 through 1936 there as
lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in English..


1920s

Tate made his debut as a critic in the weekly book page Davidson edited for the Nashville ''
Tennessean Tennessean refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the state of Tennessee, including: * ''The Tennessean'' newspaper * Tennessean (train) See also * List of people from Tennessee * Tennessine Tennessine is a synthetic chemic ...
,'' publishing 29 reviews there during 1924. The fifth book he reviewed was ''
An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes ''An Anthology of Verse by American Negroes'' is a 1924 poetry anthology compiled by Newman Ivey White and Walter Clinton Jackson. The anthology is considered one of the major anthologies of black poetry to be published during the Harlem Renaissanc ...
,'' edited by
Newman Ivey White Newman Ivey White (February 3, 1892 – December 6, 1948) was an American professor of English at Duke University. He was born in Statesville, North Carolina, United States. He was a noted Shelley scholar, as well as a collector of American folkl ...
and
Walter Clinton Jackson Walter Clinton Jackson (June 28, 1879August 12, 1959) was an American educator. Biography Jackson was born on June 28, 1879, to Albert Leroy Jackson, a farmer, and Jane Granade Jackson, a teacher, in Hayston, Georgia. After attending public sch ...
--"the first significant attempt" by "white critics to do justice to Negro literature in America." He faulted the editors' standards of "refinement" and "taste." "This of Claude McKay: 'Some of his poems are too erotic for good taste and conventional morality.' Whose good taste and whose morality?" It was easy "to understand why they overlooked altogether the work of Jean Toomer. Toomer is the finest Negro literary artist that has yet appeared in the American scene, but he is interested in the interior of Negro life, not in the pressure of American culture on the Negro." In 1924, Tate moved to New York City where he met poet
Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...
, with whom he had been corresponding for some time. Over a four-year period, Tate worked freelance for ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', and contributed to the ''
Hound & Horn ''Hound & Horn'', originally subtitled "a Harvard Miscellany", was a literary quarterly founded by Harvard undergrads Lincoln Kirstein and Varian Fry in . At the time, the college's literary magazine '' The Harvard Advocate'' did not accept their ...
'', ''
Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
'' magazine, and others. To make ends meet, he worked as a janitor. During a summer visit with the poet
Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the liter ...
in
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
, he began a relationship with writer
Caroline Gordon Caroline Ferguson Gordon (October 6, 1895 – April 11, 1981) was an American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and an O. Henry Award in 1934. Biography Gordon was born ...
. The two lived together in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, but moved with Crane to a house in
Patterson, New York Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeastern part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwestern section of the town. The population was 11,541 at the 2020 census. The town is named ...
, near "Robber Rocks," the home of friends Slater and Sue Brown. Tate married Gordon in New York in May 1925. Their daughter Nancy was born in September. In 1928, along with others New York City friends, Tate went to Europe. In London, he visited with T. S. Eliot, whose poetry and criticism he greatly admired, and he also visited Paris. In 1928, Tate published his first book of poetry, ''Mr. Pope and Other Poems'', which contained his most famous poem, "
Ode to the Confederate Dead "Ode to the Confederate Dead" is a long poem by the American poet-critic Allen Tate published in 1928 in Tate's first book of poems, ''Mr. Pope and Other Poems''. It is one of Tate's best-known poems and considered by some critics to be his most "i ...
" (not to be confused with " Ode to the Confederate Dead at Magnolia Cemetery" by the poet
Henry Timrod Henry Timrod (December 8, 1828 – October 7, 1867) was an American poet, often called the "Poet of the Confederacy". Biography Early life Timrod was born on December 8, 1828, in Charleston, South Carolina, to a family of German descent. His gr ...
). That same year, Tate also published a
biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
''Stonewall Jackson: The Good Soldier''. Later he became tired of the "Ode." Just before leaving for Europe in 1928, Tate described himself to
John Gould Fletcher John Gould Fletcher (January 3, 1886 – May 10, 1950) was an Imagist poet (the first Southern poet to win the Pulitzer Prize), author and authority on modern painting. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to a socially prominent family. After a ...
as "an enforced atheist". He later told Fletcher, "I am an atheist, but a religious one — which means that there is no organization for my religion." He regarded secular attempts to develop a system of thought for the modern world as misguided. "Only God," he insisted, "can give the affair a genuine purpose." In his essay "The Fallacy of Humanism" (1929), Tate criticized the
humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanis ...
of his time for creating a value system without investing it with any identifiable source of authority. "Religion is the only technique for the validation of values," he wrote. Although he was attracted to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, he deferred converting.
Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Louis Decimus Rubin Jr. (November 19, 1923 – November 16, 2013) was a noted American literary scholar and critic, writing teacher, publisher, and writer. He is credited with helping to establish Southern literature as a recognized area of stud ...
observes that Tate may have waited "because he realized that for him at this time it would be ''only'' a strategy, an intellectual act". In 1929, Tate published a second biography ''
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
: His Rise and Fall''.


1930s

After two years abroad, the Tates returned to the United States in 1930. During two months in New York Tate secured a publisher for a symposium on the South and agrarianism that he and Ransom, Davidson, Andrew Lytle, and others had been planning. In Tennessee, the Tates took up residence at Benfolly in Clarksville, Tennessee, With an
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...
mansion with a 185-acre estate attached. Allen's brother Ben Tate, "who had made a lot of northern money out of coal.", purchased the house for them. House guests at Benfolly were frequent:
Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...
,
Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...
, Louise Bogan, Phelps Putnam,
Stark Young Stark Young (October 11, 1881 – January 6, 1963) was an American teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic, translator, and essayist. Early life Stark Young was born on October 11, 1881 in Como, Mississippi. His father, Alfre ...
, the Howard Bakers, the
Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), his lyrical memoir, ''Exile's Return ...
s, the Ransoms, the Warrens. Meeting at Benfolly and in Nashville, Tate, Ransom, Davidson et al. completed work on their symposium, ''I'll Take My Stand'' by Twelve Southerners, published in 1930. Tate didn't like the title; he had argued for "Tracts Against Communism." His contribution was "Remarks on the southern Religion": the Old South was a feudal society "without a feudal religion"; her Protestant "religious mind was inarticulate, dissenting, and schismatical." In 1933
Lincoln Kirstein Lincoln Edward Kirstein (May 4, 1907 – January 5, 1996) was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, philanthropist, and cultural figure in New York City, noted especially as co-founder of the New York City Ballet. He developed and sus ...
, co-founder and editor of ''
Hound & Horn ''Hound & Horn'', originally subtitled "a Harvard Miscellany", was a literary quarterly founded by Harvard undergrads Lincoln Kirstein and Varian Fry in . At the time, the college's literary magazine '' The Harvard Advocate'' did not accept their ...
'', wrote Tate, the Southern editor, that he "would like very much to know what all you people think could be done in relation to black and white." . . . Was the friction "inevitably racial, or accidentally economic?" Why were sexual relations between a white man and a black woman tolerated but not the reverse? Tate stated that there was "absolutely no 'solution' to the race problem in the South. That is, there is no solution that will remove the tension and the oppression that the negro must feel. . . . When two such radically different races live together, one must rule. I think the negro race is an inferior race." The key was social order, which served not
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
but "legal justice for the ruled race. . . . Liberal agitators" deprived "the negro of even the legal justice." Liberal policy was like "that of the Reconstruction, . . . a steady campaign against the Southern social system . . . to crush absolutely the remaining power of independent agriculture." As for the sexual question, "it is upon the sexual consent of women that the race depends for the future. . . . Under the industrial capitalist regime . . . women are no longer the very center of the social system. . . . What is to be done about all this I do not know; and I am inclined to think no one else knows." During this time, Tate also became the ''de facto'' associate editor of '' The American Review'', which was published and edited by
Seward Collins Seward Bishop Collins (April 22, 1899 – December 8, 1952) was an American New York socialite and publisher. By the end of the 1920s, he was a self-described " fascist". Biography Collins was born in Syracuse, New York to Irish Catholic par ...
. Tate believed ''The American Review'' could popularize the work of the
Southern Agrarians The Southern Agrarians were twelve American Southerners who wrote an agrarian literary manifesto in 1930. They and their essay collection, ''I’ll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition'', contributed to the Southern Renaissance, t ...
. He objected to Collins's open support of
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
and
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, and condemned
Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
in an article in ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' in 1936. Much of Tate's major volumes of poetry were published in the 1930s, and the scholar David Havird describes this publication history in poetry as follows:
By 1937, when he published his first ''Selected Poems'', Tate had written all of the shorter poems upon which his literary reputation came to rest. This collection--which brought together work from two recent volumes, ''Poems: 1928-1931'' (1932) and the privately printed ''The Mediterranean and Other Poems'' (1936), as well as the early ''Mr. Pope''--included "Mother and Son," "Last Days of Alice," "The Wolves," "The Mediterranean," "Aeneas at Washington," "Sonnets at Christmas," and the final version of "
Ode to the Confederate Dead "Ode to the Confederate Dead" is a long poem by the American poet-critic Allen Tate published in 1928 in Tate's first book of poems, ''Mr. Pope and Other Poems''. It is one of Tate's best-known poems and considered by some critics to be his most "i ...
." While visiting in Washington in 1936, Tate was interviewed by the Washington "'Post'": "South Is U.S. Literary Center, Asserts Allen Tate, Noted Poet."
Ford dedicated his book ''Provence'' to Gordon and Tate writing 'who came to Provence and there wrote to "That Sweet Land" the poem called "The Mediterranean" and where we went in the boat was a long bay". Tate and Herbert Agar in 1936 put together a symposium entitled ''Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence'' (Houghton Mifflin); the 21 contributors included eight Agrarians, three economists, a woman
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
, and an English
Distributist Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching princ ...
. The book made the bestseller list; it was reissued in 1999 by ISI Books. In 1936 also Scribner's published Tate's ''Reactionary Essays on Poetry and Idea'';
Maxwell Perkins William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe. Early life and e ...
, editor to both Tate and Gordon, told Tate, "It is an honor to publish this book." In 1938 Tate published his only novel, ''The Fathers'', which drew upon knowledge of his mother's ancestral home and family in
Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
.


1940s

Tate was the poet-in-residence at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
from 1939-1942, and founded the university's Creative Writing Program. He established the Mesures Lectures. During 1940 through 41 he was also a regular panelist, with
Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...
and Huntington Cairns, on the popular
CBS radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
program ''Invitation to Learning'' and sometimes a guest the following year. Random House published the transcripts. The Tates moved to
Monteagle, Tennessee Monteagle is a town in Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Cumberland Plateau region of the southeastern part of the state. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census – 804 of the town's 1,238 resi ...
in 1942 to write, living on publishers' advances (Gordon was a novelist).
Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...
and
Jean Stafford Jean Stafford (July 1, 1915 – March 26, 1979) was an American short story writer and novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for '' The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford'' in 1970. Biography She was born in Covina, California, to M ...
joined them. Lytle was teaching history at the nearby
University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...
and was made editor of the ''
Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''Th ...
'' for a year; Tate helped him by getting poems and articles from
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
, William Meredith, and others. In 1943 Tate was appointed the first rotating Chair of Poetry at the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, where he established the Associate Fellows in American Letters. He initiated recordings of 16th and 17th century English lyrics and modern American poetry from
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...
to
Karl Shapiro Karl Jay Shapiro (November 10, 1913 – May 14, 2000) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1945 for his collection ''V-Letter and Other Poems''. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to th ...
for Books for the Blind. He reviewed Shapiro's first book of poems, ''Person, Place and Thing'', for the magazine ''
Common Sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political argu ...
'' in 1943, writing the review as a letter to Sgt. Shapiro, then stationed in Australia, mixing some compositional advice with high praise ("May I list here certain poems that for me are already placed among the best poetry of our time?"), and beginning a long friendship. Tate was known for his aid to talented younger writers:
John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...
, Joseph Frank, Robert Lowell, William Meredith Jr, Howard Nemerov,
Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew up. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when ...
(known as "the Jewish Allen Tate"), and
Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...
. Tate edited the ''Sewanee Review'' from 1944 to 1946. Publishing Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens,
Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
, T. S. Eliot,
John Peale Bishop John Peale Bishop (May 21, 1892 – April 4, 1944) was an American poet and man of letters. Biography Bishop was born in Charles Town, West Virginia, to a family from New England, and attended school in Hagerstown, Maryland and Mercersburg Acade ...
, Malcom Cowley, Mark Van Doren, Randall Jarrell,
R. P. Blackmur Richard Palmer Blackmur (January 21, 1904 – February 2, 1965) was an American literary critic and poet. Life Blackmur was born and grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. He attended Cambridge High and Latin School, but was expelled in 1918. A ...
, John Berryman,
Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...
, Peter Taylor, and others, he greatly increased the magazine's circulation and made it one of the foremost quarterlies in the English language. Tate and Gordon were divorced in 1945 and remarried in 1946. Though devoted to one another for life, they could not get along and would divorce again in 1959. Divorced and remarried, the Tates lived in New York from 1946 to 1951. Tate published ''Poems 1922-1947.'' It included the long "Seasons of the Soul," written during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, which he valued more highly than the "Ode." He was editor of ''belle lettres'' at Henry Holt and Co. for two years and a lecturer at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
for four years. Tate received an honorary Litt.D. from the
University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...
in 1948 and was a visiting professor at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1949. He was elected to the
National Institute 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 ...
in 1949. Tate would try without success until the end of his life to get Gordon elected to the Institute.


1950s

In 1950, Tate converted to Roman Catholicism. His godfather was the philosopher
Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
, who had been his friend at Princeton for several years. Gordon had joined the Church in 1947. Following the Tates into the Church later were their daughter and son-in-law, Nancy and Percy Wood; their Tennessee friends Brainard Cheney and his wife Frances; and their friend George Frederick Morgan, Tate's former Princeton student and editor of the ''
Hudson Review ''The Hudson Review'' is a quarterly journal of literature and the arts. History It was founded in 1947 in New York, by William Arrowsmith, Joseph Deericks Bennett, and George Frederick Morgan. The first issue was introduced in the spring of ...
.'' In 1951, six weeks after his baptism, Tate, writing "as a Catholic," published a letter in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' objecting to
Cardinal Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliary ...
's banning the Italian film '' The Miracle''. Maritain told him, "Only you would have had the nerve to fight Spellman." The Supreme Court in 1952 struck down New York State's ban of ''The Miracle'', Justice
Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judicia ...
citing Tate's letter to the ''New York Times''. When Warren resigned from the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
to go to Yale in 1951, the university offered the position to Tate. Tate was one of six U.S. delegates in 1952, including
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
,
Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sho ...
, and
W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
, to the Congress for Cultural Freedom in Paris. Later in 1952, the U.S. State Department sent Tate to the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Conference on the Arts in Venice; in Rome he had an audience with
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
. He was a
Fulbright Lecturer The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
in Rome, 1953–54, and was the first Writer in Residence at the American Academy there. Tate was awarded honorary Litt. D. degrees by
Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associat ...
(1955) and
Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...
(1956). Tate was awarded the
Bollingen Prize The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement.
for Poetry for 1956. During the summers he taught at Harvard University and
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
. In 1958 he was awarded the Christian Culture Gold Medal in Canada "as an outstanding lay exponent of Christian ideals." He was a
Fulbright Lecturer The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
at the University of Oxford and the
University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...
, 1958-59. In 1959, Gordon was granted a divorce from Tate in Minneapolis on grounds of desertion. Tate four days later married the poet
Isabella Gardner Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual cu ...
(1915–1981) in
Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United S ...
. His friend
Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...
, the attorney general under
President Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, was best man. In Minneapolis Tate had been living in the Oak Grove Hotel; Gardner bought and furnished a house. Her two children from two previous husbands lived with them from time to time. "Homage to Allen Tate," honoring his 60th birthday, was published in the Autumn 1959 ''Sewanee Review'', including contributions by Ransom, Lytle, Cowley, Eliot, Blackmur, Porter, Van Doren, Davidson, and Lowell.


1960s

"'Allen Tate Reads from His Own Works'" helped launch the Yale Series of Recorded Poets in 1960. That year Tate edited ''Selected Poems of John Peale Bishop'' (Chatto & Windus), and ''The Fathers'' was reprinted (Eyre & Spottiswood and Swallow). The ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' said it was "possibly one of the great novels of our time'" and ''Encounter'' and the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' published long review-articles by
Frank Kermode Sir John Frank Kermode, FBA (29 November 1919 – 17 August 2010) was a British literary critic best known for his 1967 work '' The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction'' and for his extensive book-reviewing and editing. He was ...
and
Janet Adam Smith Janet Buchanan Adam Smith OBE (9 December 1905 – 11 September 1999) was a writer, editor, literary journalist and champion of Scottish literature. She was active from the 1930s through to the end of the century and noted for her elegant prose, ...
. Tate said, "The British read the book as I conceived it--not as 'another Southern novel.'" He received an honorary Litt.D. from the
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...
in 1960. Tate published ''Poems'' in 1960, adding two poems in
terza rima ''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rhy ...
, "The Swimmers" and "The Buried Lake." T. S. Eliot said Tate's were the best terza rima poems in English. The Tates were invited to the
inauguration of John F. Kennedy The inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th president of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 1961, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 44th inauguration, marking the commencement of ...
in 1961. First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy told Tate, "Oh, I took your picture!" (she had once been a newspaper photographer). Tate was awarded the Brandeis Creative Arts Medal in Poetry in 1961 for lifetime achievement. When the issue of
racial integration Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
came to a new crisis in riots in 1962 at the
University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...
, Tate, Davidson, Warren, and Charlie Foster, Tate's colleague and close friend from New England, exchanged views. Tate was "in favor of Negro rights" but thought "the Supreme Court has gone about it from the wrong end. The vote is the thing; school integration, even for those who want it, will never be solidly based without the Negro vote." He was annoyed "that the Southern Way of Life becomes a popular cause only when race relations are upset." Italians awarded Tate the
Dante Alighieri Society The Dante Alighieri Society (Italian: ''Società Dante Alighieri'') is a society that promotes Italian culture and language around the world. Today this society is present in more than 60 countries. It was formed in Italy in July 1889. The so ...
's Gold Medal for 1962.
Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
awarded him an honorary Litt.D. in 1963. The Tates spent their summer vacations in England and Italy, seeing among others the Eliots, Louis MacNeice, Yvor Richards, W. H. Auden, Graham Greene, the Joseph Franks, Edith Sitwell, the Herbert Reeds, the Roy Fullers, the C. Day Lewises, and the Stephen Spenders, who gave them a cocktail party in 1962. Isabella met
Natasha Spender Natasha Spender, Lady Spender (''née'' Litvin; 18 April 1919 – 21 October 2010) was an English pianist and author. She was the second wife of the writer Sir Stephen Spender. She was born in London. Her maternal family emigrated to Britai ...
, with whom Tate had had an affair. Tate remained friends with the Spenders until his death as well as with Elizabeth Hardwick, his other serious affair during his marriage with Gordon. Tate brought "a procession of distinguished visitors to Minneapolis," Charlie Foster said, and the cocktail parties the Tates had for them allowed faculty and sometimes graduate students to meet them: it was "a kind of salon." Gardner's two children were a constant problem. Rose worked as a
belly dance Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
r in San Francisco and Puerto Rico, got engaged to a Mexican bullfighter until an Embassy investigation proved him a fraud. Dan, a freshman at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, disappeared and turned up in a hospital in Baltimore. Isabella gave a large dinner party for Tate's 65th birthday, inviting 26 guests. Tate was elected to 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 ...
, which had only 50 members, in 1964. He was the subject of a long illustrated article leading off the arts section of the Sunday Minneapolis ''Star'' ''Tribune'' for Jan. 24, 1965. It said Tate "is one Southern conservative who is not enamored with Barry Goldwater. 'Goldwater is a fine example of the complete decay of conservatism,' Tate said, his oversize head shaking sadly. 'I'd prefer the welfare state to his caricature.'" Tate moved back into the Oak Grove Hotel after Gardner learned that he had been having an affair with a graduate student, Helen Heinz, a nun who was assistant director of nursing at a county hospital. He edited a special Eliot issue of the ''Sewanee Review'', which was reissued as a book in 1966, ''T.S. Eliot, the Man and His Work.'' He was named the first Regents Professor of English at Minnesota. Gardner divorced Tate in March 1966; he and Helen were married in July in Tennessee. Tate was a visiting professor at the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...
, fall 1966, and at
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
, spring 1967. For
Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...
's 80th birthday dinner in Washington, Tate delivered a greeting speech in Latin. He sold his papers to the
Firestone Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...
at Princeton; the proceeds would help build a new house for his retirement at Sewanee. Twin sons, John and Michael, were born prematurely to the Tates in Nashville in August 1967. Tate was elected president of the
National Institute 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 ...
. He delivered the principal address at Ransom's 80th birthday celebration at
Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
. Upon his retirement from Minnesota in June 1968 the family moved to Sewanee. While the Tates were at Lytle's for dinner one evening in July 1968, the babysitter allowed Michael to choke to death in his crib on a toy telephone while she was running him a bath. Walter Sullivan, in his memoir of Tate, claims that the Tates broke off contact with Andrew Lytle afterwards. Robert Lowell commemorated the infant boy's death in his poem "Michael Tate: August 1967–July 1968". Tate resigned as president of the National Institute in November 1968 because of the tiring trips to New York. He edited ''The Complete Poems and Selected Criticism of Edgar Allan Poe'' (New American Library) and published ''Essays of Four Decades'' (Swallow and Oxford). He received an honorary D.Litt. from
University of North Carolina at Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...
in 1969. In December another son was born, Benjamin Lewis Bogan Tate.


1970s

Tate gave the annual Joseph Warren Beach Memorial Lecture at the University of Minnesota in 1970 and read at the Poetry International Festival in London. He and Helen spent two weeks in Italy; in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
he attended the dinner celebrating Alfredo Rizzardi's translation of ''Ode to the Confederate Dead and Other Poems''. He received an honorary D.Litt. from the
University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...
. Tate published ''The Swimmers and Other Selected Poems'' (Oxford and Scribners) in 1971. He lectured at UNC Greensboro for two weeks in 1970 and 1971 and at Harvard for four days in 1971. He was earning as much as he could by lecturing because the
annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...
his brother Ben left him would expire after his death. He had to cancel his Hopwood Awards Lecture at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1972 when he was hospitalized at the Vanderbilt Hospital for ten days with bronchitis and
emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...
; Gordon substituted for him. David McDowell at Crown Publishers recommended Tate to the
Nobel Prize Committee A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are five Nobel Committees, one for each Nobel Prize. Four of these committees (for prizes in physics, chemistry, physiolo ...
in literature. Tate received a medal for distinction in literature from the University of South Carolina. He was sick when he delivered the three Gauss Lectures for 1973 at Princeton; he collapsed afterwards and was in the hospital at Princeton for ten days with emphysema. In 1974 Tate gave a lecture at the Library of Congress on the centenary of Robert Frost's birth. Tate's 75th birthday was celebrated two days at Sewanee and one evening in London. At Sewanee the program included Denis Donoghue, Cleanth Brooks, Howard Nemerov,
William Jay Smith William Jay Smith (April 22, 1918 – August 18, 2015) was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. Life William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Loui ...
, Radcliffe Squires, Walter Sullivan, Louis Rubin, and Lewis Simpson. Tate wasn't allowed to attend the public events but, though weak, was engaging and witty at the social events which included his friends
Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numero ...
, Joseph Frank,
Francis Fergusson Francis Fergusson (1904–1986) was a Harvard and Oxford-educated teacher and critic, a theorist of drama and mythology who wrote ''The Idea of a Theater'', (Princeton, 1949) arguably the best and most influential book about drama written by an Am ...
, and others. In London at the
Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new thea ...
Stephen Spender presided at a panel including I. A. Richards, Roy Fuller, and Robert Lowell, followed by a party in the Green Room. Tate was hospitalized at Vanderbilt Hospital for three weeks in 1975 following a coma; he was now bedridden. His ''Memoirs and Opinions, 1926-1974'', was published by Swallow. He received the Ingram Merrill Foundation's Award in Literature for 1975. In 1976 he was awarded the National Medal for Literature; William Jay Smith accepted it for him. The Tates moved to
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
to be near Allen's lung specialist. They took a vow of celibacy and were received back into the Church. Tate had numerous visitors to his small room; on the walls were pictures of Ransom and Eliot, "my two masters." He was connected to an oxygen tank. ''Collected Poems, 1916-1976'' was published in 1977 by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. It was awarded the
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize 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 outreach ...
for the best book of poems in 1977. Tate died in the Vanderbilt Hospital February 9, 1979. He was buried at Sewanee.


Attitudes on race

Literary scholars have questioned the relationship between the cultural attitudes of Modernist poets on issues such as race and the writing produced by the poets. The 1930s saw Tate's most notable stances on matters that may or may not be connected to literary craft. For example, though Tate spoke well of the work of fellow Modernist poet
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...
, in 1931, Tate pressured his colleague Thomas Dabney Mabry, Jr., into canceling a reception for Hughes, comparing the idea of socializing with the black poet to meeting socially with his black cook.Arnold Rampersad, ''The Life of Langston Hughes'', Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 231. John L. Grigsby describes Tate as a rare "nonracist equalitarian" among the Southern Agrarians. In the 1930s Tate held prejudices against blacks. He expressed views against
interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...
and
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
and refused to associate with black writers (like Langston Hughes).Thomas Underwood. ''Allen Tate: Orphan of the South'', Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 291. Tate also believed in
white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
.Allen Tate, "A View of the White South", ''The American Review'' 2:4 (February 1934).See also Hamilton, ''Against Oblivion'', pp. 135-36.''Allen Tate: Orphan of the South'', Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 151. Underwood (p. 291) doesn't, however, quote
Lincoln Kirstein Lincoln Edward Kirstein (May 4, 1907 – January 5, 1996) was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, philanthropist, and cultural figure in New York City, noted especially as co-founder of the New York City Ballet. He developed and sus ...
's reply to Tate's letter (see the 1930)s: "The most lucid and carefully thought out attitude that I have ever seen in regard to the whole business." According to the critic Ian Hamilton, Tate and his co-agrarians had been more than ready at the time to overlook the anti-Semitism of the ''American Review'' in order to promote their 'spiritual' defense of the Deep South's traditions. In a 1934 review, "A View of the Whole South", Tate reviews W. T. Couch's "Culture in The South: A Symposium by Thirty-one Authors" and defends racial hegemony: "I argue it this way: the white race seems determined to rule the Negro race in its midst; I belong to the white race; therefore I intend to support white rule.
Lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
is a symptom of weak, inefficient rule; but you can't destroy lynching by fiat or social agitation; lynching will disappear when the white race is satisfied that its supremacy will not be questioned in social crises." According to
David Yezzi David Dalton Yezzi (born 1966) is an American poet, editor, actor, and professor. He currently teaches poetry in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Life Yezzi was born in Albany, New YorkJohns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
, Tate held the conventional social views of a white Southerner in 1934: an "inherited racism, a Southern legacy rooted in place and time that Tate later renounced." Tate was born of a Scotch-Irish lumber manager whose business failures required moving several times per year, Tate said of his upbringing ""we might as well have been living, and I been born, in a tavern at a crossroads."Paul V. Murphy, ''The Rebuke of History: The Southern Agrarians and American Conservative Thought''. University of North Carolina Press, 2001, p. 32 However, his views on race were not passively incorporated; Thomas Underwood documents Tate's pursuit of racist ideology: "Tate also drew ideas from nineteenth-century proslavery theorists such as
Thomas Roderick Dew Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) was a professor at and then president of The College of William & Mary. He was an influential pro-slavery advocate. Biography Thomas Dew was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1802, son of Captain Th ...
, a professor at
The College of William and Mary ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, and William Harper, of the University of South Carolina — "We must revive these men, he said." In the 1930s Tate was infuriated when another writer implied that he was a fascist.


Awards

* Bollingen Prize for Poetry, 1956. * Christian Culture Gold Medal, Canada, "as an outstanding lay exponent of Christian ideals," 1958. * Brandeis Medal in Poetry for Lifetime Achievement, 1961. * Dante Medal, Italy, 1962. * Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in Literature, 1975. * National Medal for Literature, "for the excellence of his total contribution to literature," 1976. * Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for ''Poems, 1919-1976'', 1978.


Bibliography


Poetry

* ''Poems, 1928-1931'', 1932. * ''The Mediterranean and Other Poems'', 1936. * ''Selected Poems'', 1937. * ''The Winter Sea'', 1944. * ''Poems, 1920-1945'', 1947. * ''Poems, 1922-1947'', 1948. * ''Two Conceits for the Eye to Sing, If Possible'', 1950. * ''Poems'', 1960. * ''Poems'', 1961. * ''Collected Poems'', 1970. * ''The Swimmers and Other Selected Poems'', 1970. * ''Collected Poems 1919-1976'', 1976.


Prose

* ''Stonewall Jackson: The Good Soldier'' (biography), 1928. * ''Jefferson Davis: His Rise and Fall'' (biography), 1929. * ''Reactionary Essays on Poetry and Ideas'', 1936. * ''The Fathers'' (novel), 1938. * ''Reason in Madness'' (essays), 1941. * ''On the Limits of Poetry: Selected Essays, 1928-1948'', 1948. * ''The Hovering Fly'' (essays), 1949. * ''The Forlorn Demon'' (essays), 1953. * ''The Man of Letters in the Modern World'' (essays), 1955. * ''Collected Essays'', 1959. * ''Essays of Four Decades'', 1969. * ''Memoirs and Opinions, 1926-1974'', 1975. * ''The Poetry Reviews of Allen Tate, 1924-1944,'' ed. by Ashley Brown and Frances Neel Cheney, 1983.


Correspondence

* ''The Literary Correspondence of Donald Davidson & Allen Tate,'' (Georgia, 1974) * ''The Republic of Letters in America: The Correspondence of John Peale Bishop & Allen Tate'' (Kentucky, 1981) * ''The Lytle-Tate Letters: The Correspondence of Andrew Lytle & Allen Tate'' (Mississippi, 1987). * ''Exiles and Fugitives: The Letters of Jacques and Raissa Maritain, Allen Tate, and Caroline Gordon'' (LSU, 1992). * ''Cleanth Brooks & Allen Tate: Collected Letters, 1933-1976'' (Missouri, 1998).


Secondary sources

* Donald Davidson, ''Southern Writers in the Modern World'' (Georgia, 1958). * Louise Cowan, ''The Fugitive Group: A Literary History'' (LSU, 1958). * Rob Roy Purdy, ed., ''Fugitives' Reunion: Conversations at Vanderbilt, May 3–5, 1956'' (Vanderbilt, 1959). * R. K. Meiners, ''The last Alternatives: A Study of the Works of Allen Tate'' (Alan Swallow, 1963). * M. E. Bradford, ''Rumors of Mortality: An Introduction to Allen Tate'' (Argus Academic Press, 1969). * Radcliffe Squires, ''Allen Tate: A Literary Biography'' (Pegasus, 1971). * Radcliffe Squires, ed., ''Allen Tate and His Work'' (Minnesota,1972). * Robert Buffington, "The Directing Mind: Allen Tate and the Profession of Letters," ''Southern Literary Journal'', Spring 1973. * Robert Buffington, "Disorder and Early Sorrow," ''Hudson Review'', Summer 1978. * Robert Buffington, "Allen Tate: Society, Vocation, Communion," ''Southern Review'', January 1982. * Robert S. Dupree, ''Allen Tate and the Augustinian Imagination: A Study of the Poetry''(LSU, 1983). * Walter Sullivan, ''Allen Tate: A Recollection'' (LSU, 1988). * William Doreski, ''The Years of Our Friendship: Robert Lowell and Allen Tate'' (Mississippi,1990). * Thomas A. Underwood, ''Allen Tate: Orphan of the South'' (Princeton, 2000). * Robert Buffington, "A Conservative Revolution?," ''Sewanee Review'', Summer 2003. * Walter Sullivan, "Another Southern Connection: Allen Tate and Peter Taylor," ''Sewanee Review'', Summer 2002. * Robert Buffington, "Campaigning for Poetry," ''Sewanee Review'', Summer 2005. * Robert Buffington, "The Tates, Ford, and the House of Fiction," ''Sewanee Review'', Winter 2008. * Joseph Kuhn, ''Allen Tate: A Study in Southern Modernism and the Religious Imagination'' (Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 2009). * Robert Buffington, "A Great Seizure of Poems," ''Sewanee Review'', Winter 2012. * Robert Buffington, "His Instrument, His Church, His Friends and Lovers: Tate, 1957-1958," ''Sewanee Review'', Winter 2015. * Robert Buffington, "Allen Tate and the ''Sewanee Review''," ''Sewanee Review'', Spring 2015. * John V. Glass III, ''Allen Tate: The Modern Mind and the Discovery of Enduring Love'' (Catholic University of America, 2016). * Robert Buffington, "Poets, Death, and the Sixties Disorder," ''Sewanee Review'', Summer 2016.


References


External links


The Allen Tate Papers at Washington University in St. Louis''The Fathers'' (1938) in ''Encyclopedia Virginia''
*
Stuart Wright Collection: Allen Tate Papers (#1169-012), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Allen 1899 births 1979 deaths Southern Agrarians American male poets American Poets Laureate Bollingen Prize recipients Formalist poets Kenyon College faculty People from Clark County, Kentucky Sewanee: The University of the South University of Cincinnati alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Poets from Kentucky American male essayists Writers of American Southern literature 20th-century American poets Georgetown Preparatory School alumni 20th-century American male writers People from Sewanee, Tennessee Old Right (United States) 20th-century American essayists American Roman Catholics Catholics from Kentucky Catholics from Tennessee Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters