Ted Berrigan (November 15, 1934 – July 4, 1983) was an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

Early life

Berrigan was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

before joining the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, where he received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in 1959 and fell just short of the requirements for an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1962. Berrigan was married to Sandy Berrigan, also a poet, and they had two children: David Berrigan and Kate Berrigan. He founded "C" magazine in 1964. He and his second wife, the poet

Alice Notley Alice Notley (born November 8, 1945) is an American poet. Notley came to prominence as a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry—although she has always denied being involved with the New York School or any specific mo ...

, were active in the poetry scene in

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

for several years, then moved to

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 ...

, where he edited various magazines and books.

The New York School

A prominent figure in the second generation of the New York School of Poets, Berrigan was peer to

Jim Carroll James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work '' The Basketball Diaries'', which inspired a 1995 film of ...

Anselm Hollo Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo (12 April 1934 – 29 January 2013) was a Finnish poet and translator. He lived in the United States from 1967 until his death in January 2013. Hollo published more than forty titles of poetry in the United Kingdom and ...

Ron Padgett Ron Padgett (born June 17, 1942, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American poet, essayist, fiction writer, translator, and a member of the New York School. ''Great Balls of Fire'', Padgett's first full-length collection of poems, was published in 1969. He ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activ ...

Bernadette Mayer Bernadette Mayer (May 12, 1945 – November 22, 2022) was an American poet, writer, and visual artist associated with both the Language poets and the New York School. Early life and education Bernadette Mayer was born in a predominantly Ge ...

, and

Lewis Warsh Lewis Warsh (9 November 1944 – 15 November 2020) was an American poet, visual artist, professor, prose writer, editor, and publisher. He was a principal member of the second generation of the New York School poets,; however, he has said that � ...

. He collaborated with Padgett and

Joe Brainard Joe Brainard (March 11, 1942 – May 25, 1994) was an American artist and writer associated with the New York School. His prodigious and innovative body of work included assemblages, collages, drawing, and painting, as well as designs for book ...

on ''Bean Spasms'', a work significant in its rejection of traditional concepts of ownership. Though Berrigan, Padgett, and Brainard all wrote individual poems for the book, and collaborated on many others, no authors were listed for individual poems. In 2005, Berrigan's published and unpublished poetry was published together in a single volume edited by the poet

, Berrigan's second wife, and their two sons,

Anselm Berrigan Anselm Berrigan (born 1972) is an American poet and teacher. Life and work Anselm Berrigan grew up in New York City, where he currently resides with his wife, poet Karen Weiser. From 2003 to 2007, he served as artistic director at the St. Mar ...

, a poet, and Edmund Berrigan, a poet and songwriter.

''The Sonnets''

The poet

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

called Berrigan's most significant publication, ''The Sonnets,'' "a fact of modern poetry." A telling reflection of the era that produced it, ''The Sonnets'' beautifully weaves together traditional elements of the Shakespearean sonnet form with the disjunctive structure and cadence of T. S. Eliot's ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...

'' and Berrigan's own literary innovations and personal experiences. In the words of Berrigan's editor and second wife Alice Notley, the product was a composition "

hat is A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

musical, sexy, and funny." Berrigan was initially drawn to the sonnet form because of its inherent challenge; in his own words, "the form sort of tultifiesthe whole process

f writing F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

" The procedure that he ultimately concocted to write ''The Sonnets'' is the essence of the work's novelty and ingenuity. After attempting several sonnets, Berrigan decided to go back through what he had written and take out certain lines, one line from each work until he had six lines. He then went through the poems backwards and took one more line from each until he had accumulated six more lines, twelve lines total. Based on this body of the work, Berrigan knew what the final couplet would be; this process became the basis for The Sonnets. Addressing claims that the method is utterly mechanical, Berrigan explains that some of the seventy-seven sonnets came to him "whole," without needing to be pieced together. The poet's preoccupation with style, his concern for form and his own role as the creator, as evinced by ''The Sonnets,'' pose a challenge to traditional ideas about poetry and signify a fresh and innovative artistic approach. The book recognizes the eternal possibility for invention in a genre seemingly overwhelmed by the success of its traditional forms. By imitating the forms and practices of earlier artists and recreating them to express personal ideas and experiences, Berrigan demonstrates the potential for poetry in his and subsequent generations. As

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) Charles Bernstein (born April 4, 1950) is an American poet, essayist, editor, and literary sc ...

succinctly comments, "Part collage, part process writing, part sprung lyric, Ted Berrigan's ''The Sonnets'' remains…one of the freshest and most buoyantly inspired works of contemporary poetry. Reinventing verse for its time, ''The Sonnets'' are redolent with possibilities for our own.”

Death

Berrigan died on July 4, 1983 of

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

of the liver brought on by

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

Selected publications

*''The Sonnets'' (1964, 1967, 1982, 2000) *''Seventeen Plays'', with

(1964) *''Living With Chris'' (1965) *''Some Things'' (1966) *''Bean Spasms'', with

and

(1967) *''Many Happy Returns'' (1969) *''Peace: Broadside'' (1969) *''In the Early Morning Rain'' (1971) *''Memorial Day'', with

(1971) *''Back in Boston Again'', with

and Tom Clark (1972) *''The Drunken Boat'' (1974) *''A Feeling For Leaving'' (1975) *''Red Wagon'' (1976) *''Clear The Range'' (1977) *''Nothing For You'' (1977) *''Train Ride'' (1978) *''Yo-Yo's With Money'', with Harris Schiff (1979) *''Carrying a Torch'' (1980) *''So Going Around Cities: New & Selected Poems 1958–1979'' (1980) () *''In a Blue River'' (1981) *''A Certain Slant of Sunlight'' (1988) *''Selected Poems'' (1994) *''Great Stories of the Chair'' (1998) *''The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan'' (University of California Press, 2005) NOH (1969) * ''Get the Money!: Collected Prose (1961-1983)'', a collection of prose published by City Lights Books. 09/13/2022. .

References

External links

*
EPC author pageAcademy of American Poets: Ted BerriganJacket: Essay on ''The Sonnets''Ted Berrigan and Alice Notley collection
a
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University

Finding aid to Ted Berrigan papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berrigan, Ted 1934 births 1983 deaths Writers from Providence, Rhode Island Poets from Rhode Island Writers from New York City Writers from Chicago Poets from Oklahoma Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma New York School poets Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Deaths from cirrhosis 20th-century American poets American male poets 20th-century American male writers