At a glance
- Born
- 1927-12-13
- Died
- 1980-03-25
- Education
- Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, to 1952, BA
- University of Washington, Seattle, WA, MA, PhD
- Known as
- Poet
- Organizations
- Kenyon College
Life story
James Wright was born in Martins Ferry in 1927. His father worked in a glass factory and his mother in a laundry; neither finished eighth grade. A nervous breakdown in 1943 delayed his schooling and he finished high school in 1946.
After Army service in occupied Japan he studied at Kenyon College under John Crowe Ransom, then at the University of Washington with Theodore Roethke.
His first book The Green Wall won the Yale Younger Poets Prize (1956). The Branch Will Not Break (1963) changed his style, and his Collected Poems won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize.
He died of cancer in New York in 1980. Martins Ferry held a poetry festival in his honour from 1981 to 2007.
Timeline
- 1927-12-13: Born (Martins Ferry, OH) source
- 1943: Nervous breakdown delayed school (Martins Ferry, OH) source
- 1946: Graduated high school (Martins Ferry, OH) source
- 1952: BA, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) source
- 1956: The Green Wall (Yale Younger Poets) (New Haven, CT) source
- 1963: The Branch Will Not Break (US) source
- 1972: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (US) source
- 1980-03-25: Died (Bronx, NY) source
What James is known for
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1972 for Collected Poems
- Yale Younger Poets Prize 1956 for The Green Wall
- The Green Wall (1956)
- Saint Judas (1959)
- The Branch Will Not Break (1963)
- Shall We Gather at the River (1967)
- Collected Poems (1971)
- To a Blossoming Pear Tree (1977)
Honors and things named for them
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1972)
- Martins Ferry Poetry Festival (1981-2007)
Family
- spouse: Liberty Kardules
- spouse: Edith Anne Crunk
- son: Franz Wright
Ohio places
Where James Wright was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Martins Ferry, Belmont County ZIP 43935 · Martins Ferry · Belmont County
- School: Gambier, Knox County ZIP 43022 · Gambier · Knox County
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Wikipedia: James Wright dates, birthplace, Kenyon BA 1952, Pulitzer 1972