William Hobart Dickey (December 15, 1928 – May 3, 1994) was an American poet and professor of English and creative writing at San Francisco State University. He wrote 15 books of poetry over a career that lasted over 30 years.

Early life and education

Dickey was born in 1928 in Bellingham, Washington and was raised in Washington and Oregon. He attended Reed College, graduating in 1951. At Reed, he wrote a novel for his bachelor's thesis and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society. He was awarded a

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

and studied at Harvard University (Master of Arts, 1955) and the University of Iowa (Master of Fine Arts, 1956). As a

Fulbright scholar 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 ...

, he studied at Jesus College at the University of Oxford from 1959 to 1960. Dickey was a student of

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 ...

at the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...

. He later recalled:

Literary and academic career

Dickey's first collection of poetry, ''Of the Festivity'', was selected by

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 ...

as the winner of the

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

in 1959. In the foreword to the book, Auden wrote: Among Dickey's collections of poetry, ''More Under Saturn'' won a silver medal from the

Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

in 1972, and ''The Rainbow Grocery'' received the Juniper Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press in 1978. Dickey was an instructor in English at Cornell University from 1956 to 1959 and an assistant professor of English at Denison University from 1960 to 1962. In 1962, he joined the faculty of San Francisco State University and taught as a professor of English and creative writing until his retirement in 1991.

Personal life

Dickey lived in San Francisco with his companion Leonard Sanazaro, a poet who taught English and creative writing at the City College of San Francisco. Dickey died in 1994 at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. The cause was complications from

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

-related surgeries. Shortly before his death, Dickey finished the poem "The Death of John Berryman," about the suicide of his former teacher. It was published posthumously in ''

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 ...

'' (January 1996) and ''

The Best American Poetry 1997 ''The Best American Poetry 1997'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor James Tate. Poets and poems included See also * 1997 in poetry Nationality words link to articles with informati ...

''. In 1996, a collection of Dickey's poems and books was deposited at the Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

Published work

Dickey's published works of poetry include: * ''Of the Festivity'' (Yale University Press, 1959) * ''Interpreter's House'' (Ohio State University Press, 1963) * ''Rivers of the Pacific Northwest'' (Twowindows Press, 1969) * ''More Under Saturn'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1971) * ''Sheena'' (Funge Art Centre, Gorey, Ireland, 1975) * ''The Rainbow Grocery'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 1978) * ''The Sacrifice Consenting'' (Pterodactyl Press, 1981) * ''Six Philosophical Songs'' (Pterodactyl Press, 1983) * ''Joy'' (Pterodactyl Press, 1983) * ''Brief Lives'' (Heyeck Press, 1985) * ''The King of the Golden River'' (Pterodactyl Press, 1985) * ''In the Dreaming'' (University of Arkansas Press, 1994) * ''The Education of Desire'' (University Press of New England, 1996) His poems have also appeared in many anthologies, including: * ''

The Best American Poetry 1996 ''The Best American Poetry 1996'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman and by guest editor Adrienne Rich. Poets and poems included See also * 1996 in poetry Nationality words link to articles with informa ...

'' ("The Arrival of the Titanic") * ''

'' ("The Death of John Berryman") Dickey also experimented with Hypercard poetry, which is available at the Maryland Institute of Technology in the Humanities (Mechanisms: new media and the forensic imagination By Matthew G. Kirschenbaum)

References

External links

William H. Dickey (1928 - 1994)

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Rut ...

William Dickey, Poems 1981-1995

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Library Journals L ...

William Dickey HyperCard Poems Vol 1

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

William Dickey HyperCard Poems Vol. 2 Erotica

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickey, William 1928 births 1994 deaths AIDS-related deaths in California Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Cornell University faculty Denison University faculty Harvard University alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni American LGBT poets LGBT people from Washington (state) Writers from Bellingham, Washington Reed College alumni San Francisco State University faculty Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Yale Younger Poets winners 20th-century American poets 20th-century American LGBT people Fulbright alumni