David Shapiro (born January 2, 1947) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

, and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

. He has written some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of thirteen, and his first book was published when he was eighteen.

Education and teaching

Born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Weequahic High School Weequahic High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Weequahic section of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The school is operated by the Newar ...

before matriculating at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

at the age of 16 (with the assistance of

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets includ ...

), from which he holds a B.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1973) in English. Already a musician of professional competence as a youth, from 1963 he was a violinist with the New Jersey Symphony and the American Symphony, among others. Between 1968-1970, he studied at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

on a Kellett Fellowship, from which he holds an M.A. with honors.Parhizkar, Maryam
"David Shapiro ’68: Four Decades of Poems"
, ''Columbia College Today'', May/June 2007. Accessed May 4, 2008. Having previously taught at Columbia (in the Department of English and Comparative Literature),

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 ...

, and

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

, Shapiro teaches poetry and literature at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and is currently the William Paterson professor of art history at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

. He achieved brief notoriety during the 1968 student uprising at Columbia, when he was photographed sitting behind the desk of President

Grayson L. Kirk Grayson Louis Kirk (October 12, 1903 – November 21, 1997) was an American political scientist who served as president of Columbia University during the Columbia University protests of 1968. He was also an advisor to the State Department an ...

wearing dark glasses and smoking a cigar; Shapiro later described the cigar as "horrible".

Works

Shapiro's writing includes a monograph on

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, a book on

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

’s paintings, a book on

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

’s flower studies, and a book on

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...

’ drawings. He has translated

Rafael Alberti Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Literature, and he won numerou ...

’s poems on

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and the writings of the

Sonia Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

and

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

. His sonnets on the death of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

are the basis for ''Unwritten'', a song cycle by

Mohammed Fairouz Mohammed Fairouz (born November 1, 1985) is an American composer. He is one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation and has been described by Daniel J. Wakin of ''The New York Times'' as an "important new artistic voice". Fa ...

.Fischer, Shell (March 1, 2011)
Poets, Composers Find Sanctuary
''Poets & Writers'', retrieved 2011-04-19

List of works

* ''January: A Book of Poems''–Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965 * ''Poems From Deal''–E P Dutton, 1969 * ''An Anthology of New York Poets'' (co-editor)–Random House, 1970 * ''A Man Holding an Acoustic Panel''–E P Dutton, 1971 (National Book Award Nominee) * ''The Page Turner''–Liveright, 1973 * ''Lateness: A Book of Poems''–Overlook/Viking, 1977 * ''Introduction to John Ashbery’s Poetry''–Columbia University Press, 1979 * ''The Writings of Sonia and Robert Delaunay'' (co-translator)–Viking, 1979 * ''Jim Dine''–Abrams, 1981; Alecta Press (German edition and translation) * ''Lateness'' (Watercolors by

Lucio Pozzi Lucio Pozzi (born 1935 in Milan) is an Italian-born, American artist currently based in Hudson, New York, and Valeggio sul Mincio, Verona, Italy. He studied architecture in Rome before moving to New York City in 1962. Pozzi is a painter whose p ...

)–Generations Press, Paris, 1981 * ''To An Idea''–Overlook/Viking, 1984 * ''

'' – Abrams, 1984 * ''The Body's Words on JM Haessle,'' 1988 * ''House (Blown Apart): A Book of Poems''–Overlook/Viking, 1988 * ''Mondrian: Flowers''–Abrams, 1991 * ''The Selected Poems of Jacques Dupin'' (co-translator)–Wake Forest, 1992 * ''The Eight Names of Picasso'' (co-translator)–Gas Station Editions, 1992 * ''After A Lost Original'' (etching by Terry Winters)–Solo Press, 1992 * ''The Green Lake is Awake: The Selected Poems of Joseph Ceravolo'' (co-editor)–Coffee House Press, 1994 * ''After A Lost Original''–Overlook Press, 1994 * ''Inventory: New & Selected Poems'' (editor) by Frank Lima-Hard Press, 1997 * ''Body of Prayer'' (Shapiro,

Michal Govrin Michal Govrin ( he, מיכל גוברין; November 24, 1950) is an Israeli author, poet and theater director. Biography Michal Govrin was born and raised in Tel Aviv to a father who was part of the Third Aliyah and one of the founders of kibbu ...

Derrida Derrida is a surname shared by notable people listed below. * Bernard Derrida (born 1952), French theoretical physicist * Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), French philosopher ** ''Derrida'' (film), a 2002 American documentary film * Marguerite De ...

)–Cooper Union Press, 2001 * ''A Burning Interior''–Overlook Press, 2002 * ''Rabbit Duck'' (Collaborative with

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television and T ...

) – Repair, 2005 * ''New and Selected Poems (1965–2006)''– Overlook Press, 2007 * ''In Memory of an Angel'' -City Lights Publishers, 2017. * ''Человек без книги'' (A Man Without a Book; Selected poems translated into Russian by Gali-Dana Zinger) - Literature without borders (Latvia), 2017.

Personal life

Shapiro lives in Riverdale,

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, with his wife and son.

References

Sources

''The Poetry of David Shapiro''

External links

*
the Presence of Genius'': Rodger Kamenetz on ''New and Selected Poems''
review which appeared in the ''Jewish Daily Forward'', July 18, 2007

David Shapiro in conversation with Sam Lohmann, March 2009 ;

Jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...

magazine features:
Jacket Magazine, issue 23
this issue includes a David Shapiro Feature, with numerous links to essays, reviews, poems (6 poems from ''A Burning Interior''), and an interview of Shapiro conducted by John Tranter
The Terror of the Poet
David Shapiro in conversation with Kent Johnson, an interview by email conducted in 2009

Shapiro’s 1969 interview with the late

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, David 1947 births Living people American male poets Bard College faculty Brooklyn College faculty Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia University faculty Weequahic High School alumni Writers from Newark, New Jersey Writers from the Bronx Princeton University faculty People from Riverdale, Bronx Cooper Union faculty William Paterson University faculty