John Gould Fletcher (January 3, 1886 – May 10, 1950) was an

Imagist Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized literary modernism, modernist literary movement in the English language. ...

poet (the first Southern poet to win the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

), author and authority on modern painting. He was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

, to a socially prominent family. After attending

Phillips Academy, Andover ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

, Fletcher went on to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

from 1903 to 1907, but dropped out shortly after his father's death.

Background

Fletcher lived in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for a large portion of his life. While in

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he associated with

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

, and other Imagist poets; he was one of the six Imagists who adopted the name and stuck to it until their aims were achieved. Fletcher resumed a liaison with Florence Emily "Daisy" Arbuthnot (née Goold) at her house in Kent. She had been married to Malcolm Arbuthnot and Fletcher's adultery with her was the grounds for the divorce. The couple married on July 5, 1916. The marriage produced no children, but Arbuthnot's son and daughter from her previous marriage lived with the couple, who later divorced. On January 18, 1936, Fletcher married a noted author of children's books, Charlie May Simon. The two of them built " Johnswood", a residence on the bluffs of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

, then outside Little Rock. They traveled frequently to New York for the intellectual stimulation, and to the American West and South for the climate, after Fletcher developed chronic

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

. Fletcher suffered from depression, and on May 10, 1950, died by suicide by drowning himself in a pond near his home in Little Rock, Arkansas. Fletcher is buried at historic

Mount Holly Cemetery Mount Holly Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Quapaw Quarter area of downtown Little Rock in the U.S. state of Arkansas, and is the burial place for numerous Arkansans of note. It was listed on the National Register of Historic ...

in Little Rock. A branch of the

Central Arkansas Library System Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is a public library system headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. The largest public library system in Arkansas, the Central Arkansas Library System serves all residents of Pulaski County and Perry Cou ...

is named in his honor.

Poetry

In 1913

in his ''New Freewoman'' review commended Fletcher for the individuality of rhythm in his first volume of poems. Those early works include ''Irradiations: Sand and Spray'' (1915), and ''Goblins and Pagodas'' (1916).

said of him, "No one is more absolute master of the rhythm of verse libre". Fletcher invented the term 'polyphonic prose' to describe some poetic experiments of Amy Lowell, a form he experimented with in ''Goblins & Pagodas''.''Imagist Poetry'', (ed. Peter Jones) Penguin Books Ltd, London 1972 In later poetic works Fletcher returned to more traditional forms. These include ''The Black Rock'' (1928), ''Selected Poems'' (1938), for which he won the

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

, "South Star" published by Macmillan (1941), and ''The Burning Mountain'' (1946). Fletcher later moved back to Arkansas to reconnect with his roots. The subject of his works turned increasingly towards

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

issues and traditionalism. In the late 1920s and 1930s Fletcher was active with a group of Southern writers and poets known as 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 ...

. This group published the classic Agrarian manifesto ''I'll Take My Stand'', a collection of essays rejecting

Modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...

and

Industrialism Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...

. In 1937 he wrote his autobiography, ''Life is My Song'', and in 1947 he published ''Arkansas'', a history of his home state. Johnswood, his Little Rock home, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Writings

* Irradiations Sand and Spray, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1915 * Goblins and Pagodas, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916 * Japanese Prints, Four Seas, 1918, LC 18017484 * The Tree of Life, London, Chattus Windus, 1918 * Breakers and Granite, New York, MacMillan Co., 1921 *

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, His Life and Art, N. L. Brown, 1921, LC 20114210 * Preludes and Symphonies, Macmillan, 1930 * XXIV Elegies, Writers' Editions, Santa Fe, 1935 * Life Is My Song: The Autobiography Of John Gould Fletcher, Farrar & Rinehart, 1937 * South Star, New York, MacMillan Co., 1941

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture: John Gould Fletcher
* * * * * John Gould Fletcher Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, John Gould 1886 births 1950 suicides Writers from Arkansas Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas Phillips Academy alumni American male poets American autobiographers Imagists Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Harvard University alumni Suicides in Arkansas Suicides by drowning in the United States Writers of American Southern literature 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Southern Agrarians 1950 deaths Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Background

Poetry

Writings

References

Further reading

External links