Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watt ...

, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider himself to be a

Beat poet The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatione ...

, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine. Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Japanese.

Early life

Rexroth was born Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth in

South Bend South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, the son of Charles Rexroth, a pharmaceuticals salesman, and Delia Reed. His childhood was troubled by his father's

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and his mother's chronic illness. His mother died in 1916 and his father in 1919, after which he went to live with his aunt in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago. At age nineteen, he hitchhiked across the country, taking odd jobs and working a stint as a Forest Service trail crew hand, cook, and packer in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

, at the

Marblemount Marblemount is a census-designated place in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 203 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon–Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Present-day Mar ...

Ranger Station.Suiter 2002, p. 81

Poetry career

In the 1930s, Rexroth was associated with the

Objectivists Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...

, a largely New York group gathered around

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

and George Oppen. He was included in the 1931 issue of ''

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 dedicated to Objectivist poetry, and in the 1932 '' An “Objectivists” Anthology''. Much of Rexroth's work can be classified as "erotic" or "love poetry", given his deep fascination with transcendent love. According to Hamill and Kleiner, "nowhere is Rexroth's verse more fully realized than in his erotic poetry". With ''The Love Poems of Marichiko'', Rexroth claimed to have translated the poetry of a contemporary, "young Japanese woman poet", but it was later disclosed that he was the author, and he gained critical recognition for having conveyed so authentically the feelings of someone of another gender and culture.Weinberger 1986, pp. 117-118 Linda Hamalian, his biographer, suggests that, "translating the work of women poets from China and Japan reveals a transformation of both heart and mind". Kenneth Rexroth Street

With Rexroth acting as master of ceremonies,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Philip Lamantia Philip Lamantia (October 23, 1927 – March 7, 2005) was an American poet and lecturer. His poems were often visionary, ecstatic, terror-filled, and erotic, exploring the subconscious world of dreams and linking it to daily experiences, while s ...

Michael McClure Michael McClure (October 20, 1932 – May 4, 2020) was an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famous ...

, Gary Snyder, and

Philip Whalen Philip Glenn Whalen (October 20, 1923 – June 26, 2002) was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and close to the Beat generation. Biography Born in Portland, Oregon, Whalen grew up in The Dalles fr ...

performed at the famous

Six Gallery reading The Six Gallery reading (also known as the ''Gallery Six reading'' or ''Six Angels in the Same Performance'') was an important poetry event that took place on Friday, October 7, 1955, at 3119 Fillmore Street in San Francisco. History Conceive ...

on October 7, 1955. Rexroth later testified as a defense witness at Ferlinghetti's obscenity trial for publishing "Howl". Rexroth had previously sent Ginsberg (new in the Bay Area) to meet Snyder, and was thus responsible for their friendship.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

named Rexroth as one of his own mentors. Rexroth was eventually critical of the Beat movement. Years after the Six Gallery reading, ''Time'' referred to him as "Father of the Beats. Rexroth ostensibly appears in Jack Kerouac's novel ''

The Dharma Bums ''The Dharma Bums'' is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of ''On the Road''. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on ...

'' as Reinhold Cacoethes.

Politics

As a young man in Chicago, Rexroth was involved with the anarchist movement and was active in the

IWW The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

recalled that Rexroth self-identified as a

philosophical anarchist Philosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which focuses on intellectual criticism of authority, especially political power, and the legitimacy of governments. The American anarchist and socialist Benjamin Tucker coined the term '' ...

, regularly associated with other anarchists in North Beach, and sold Italian anarchist newspapers at the

City Lights Bookstore City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ti ...

. Rexroth, a pacifist, was a conscientious objector 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 opposing ...

Last years

Rexroth died in Santa Barbara on June 6, 1982. He had spent his final years translating Japanese and Chinese women poets, as well as promoting the work of female poets in America and overseas. The year before his death, on Easter, Rexroth converted to Roman Catholicism.Hamalian 1991, p. 367

Works

As author

(all titles poetry except where indicated) *''In What Hour?'' (1940). New York: The Macmillan Company *''The Phoenix and the Tortoise'' (1944). New York: New Directions Press *''The Art of Worldly Wisdom'' (1949). Prairie City, Il:

Decker Press The Press of James A. Decker was a poetry publishing house once located in the tiny hamlet of Prairie City, Illinois. Created in 1937 by James A. Decker, the press carried the full name of its founder until 1948 when the imprint was shortened to s ...

(reissued in 1953 by Golden Goose and 1980 by Morrow & Covici) *''The Signature of All Things'' (1949). New York: New Directions *'' Beyond the Mountains: Four Plays in Verse'' (1951). New York: New Directions Press *''The Dragon and the Unicorn'' (1952). New York: New Directions Press *''Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas'' (1955). Mill Valley: Goad Press *''In Defense of the Earth'' (1956). New York: New Directions Press *''Bird in the Bush: Obvious Essays'' (1959) New York: New Directions *''Assays'' (1961) New York: New Directions (essays) *''Natural Numbers: New and Selected Poems'' (1963). New York: New Directions *''Classics Revisited'' (1964; 1986). New York: New Directions (essays). *''Collected Shorter Poems'' (1966). New York: New Directions. *''An Autobiographical Novel'' (1966). New York: Doubleday (prose autobiography)(expanded edition 1991 by New Directions) *''Heart's Garden, The Garden's Heart'' (1967). Cambridge: Pym-Randall Press *''Collected Longer Poems'' (1968). New York: New Directions. *''The Alternative Society: Essays from the Other World'' (1970). New York: Herder & Herder. *''With Eye and Ear'' (1970). New York: Herder & Herder. *''American Poetry in the Twentieth Century'' (1971). New York: Herder & Herder (essay). *''Sky, Sea, Birds, Trees, Earth, House, Beasts, Flowers'' (1971). Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press *''The Elastic Retort: Essays in Literature and Ideas'' (1973). Seabury. *''Communalism: From Its Origins to the Twentieth Century'' (1974). Seabury (non-fiction). *''New Poems'' (1974). New York: New Directions *''The Silver Swan'' (1976). Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press *''On Flower Wreath Hill'' (1976). Burnaby, British Columbia: Blackfish Press *''The Love Poems of Marichiko'' (1978). Santa Barbara: Christopher's Books *''The Morning Star'' (1979) New York: New Directions *''Saucy Limericks & Christmas Cheer'' (1980). Santa Barbara: Bradford Morrow *''Between Two Wars: Selected Poems Written Before World War II (1982). Labyrinth Editions & The Iris Press *''Selected Poems'' (1984). New York: New Directions *''World Outside the Window: Selected Essays'' (1987). New York: New Directions *''More Classics Revisited'' (1989). New York: New Directions (essays). *''An Autobiographical Novel'' (1964; expanded edition, 1991). New York: New Directions *''Kenneth Rexroth & James Laughlin: Selected Letters'' (1991). New York: Norton. *''Flower Wreath Hill: Later Poems'' (1991). New York: New Directions. *''Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems'' (1997).

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both pop ...

. *''Swords That Shall Not Strike: Poems of Protest and Rebellion'' (1999). Glad Day. *''Complete Poems'' (2003). Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press. *''In the Sierra: Mountain Writings'' (2012). New York: New Directions (poems and prose). *''K. Rexroth: World Poems #17'' (2017). Tokyo: Shichōsha (poems and prose in Japanese translation).

As translator

(in chronological order) *''Fourteen Poems by O. V. de L.-Milosz. (1952), San Francisco: Peregrine Press. Translated by Kenneth Rexroth, with illustrations by Edward Hagedorn. Second edition. (Port Townsend, WA): Copper Canyon Press, (1983). Paperbound. Issued without the Hagedorn illustrations. *''30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile'' (1956), San Francisco:

City Lights Books City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ti ...

. *''One Hundred Poems from the Japanese'' (1955), New York: New Directions. *'' One Hundred Poems From the Chinese'' (1956), New York: New Directions. *''Poems from the Greek Anthology''. (1962), Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor Paperbacks: The University of Michigan Press. *''

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

: Selected Poems'' (1969), New York: New Directions *'' Love and the Turning Year: One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese'' (1970), New York: New Directions. *''100 Poems from the French'' (1972), Pym-Randall. *''Orchid Boat'' (1972), Seabury Press. with Ling Chung; reprinted as ''Women Poets of China'', New York: New Directions *''100 More Poems from the Japanese'' (1976), New York: New Directions. *''The Burning Heart'' (1977), Seabury Press. with Ikuko Atsumi; reprinted as ''Women Poets of Japan'', New York: New Directions *''Seasons of Sacred Lust: Selected Poems of Kazuko Shiraishi''. (1978), (New York): New Directions. *''Complete Poems of Li Ch'ing-Chao''. (1979), (New York): New Directions.

Discography

* ''Poetry Readings in the Cellar (with the Cellar Jazz Quintet): Kenneth Rexroth & Lawrence Ferlinghetti'' (1957) Fantasy #7002 LP (Spoken Word) * ''Rexroth: Poetry and Jazz at the Blackhawk'' (1958) Fantasy #7008 LP (Spoken Word)

Notes

References

*Charters, Ann (ed.). ''The Portable Beat Reader''. Penguin Books. New York. 1992. (hc); (Paperback) * *Hartzell, James and Zumwinkle, Richard. "Kenneth Rexroth. A Checklist of His Published Writings". Los Angeles: Friends of the UCLA Library, 1967. (Hardcopy and paper) *Perron, Lee. Kenneth Rexroth. "A Bibliographic Checklist". Bennett Valley, CA: Sun Moon Bear Editions, 2009. (Paper) *Suiter, John. "Poets on the Peaks" (2002) Counterpoint. ; (Paper) *Weinberger, Eliot. ''Works of Paper, 1980-1986'' (1986) New Directions.

External links

*
Kenneth Rexroth Archive
a collection of works by and about Rexroth, part of Ken Knabb's ''Bureau of Public Secrets'' site. *In fall 2006, the literary journa
Chicago Review
published a special issue on Rexroth that includes a large collection of his correspondence, an interview conducted by Bradford Morrow, and several essays and poems in his honor.
Introduction to Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems of Kenneth RexrothA biography of Kenneth Rexroth
- focussing on his anarchist and working class politics
Kenneth Rexroth Film: The Signature of All Things
- Los Angeles poets read Rexroth to celebrate his 100th birthday.

from the Anarchist Encyclopedia

Seabury 1972, e-text
Rexroth blog.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927141145/http://www.zinkle.com/p/articles/mi_m2078/is_n1_v37/ai_14766065 A Life of Kenneth Rexroth - R book review

Fall, 1993; Review of Linda Hamalian, ''A life of Kenneth Rexroth'', by Donald Gutierrez (Literary Review).
On Rexroth's Poetry
1999; Donald K. Gutierrez essay, from Kenneth Rexroth's ''Modern American Poetry'' page; Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. *
Tribute on 100th birthday
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rexroth, Kenneth 1905 births 1982 deaths Writers from South Bend, Indiana American anarchists American conscientious objectors English-language haiku poets Poets from California Poets from Indiana Objectivist poets School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Industrial Workers of the World members Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American poets Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery