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The May
Swenson Poetry Award, sponsored by Utah State University Press, is a competitive prize granted annually to an outstanding collection of poetry in English. Open to published and unpublished writers, with no limitation on subject, the competition honors May Swenson as one of America's most
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also has two collections of her work, and an addendum in their
Special Collections and Archives. The University has created the "May Swenson Project." Supported by students and teachers, it has publicized Swenson's work at USU, as well as her influence across the nation. In her name, USU has
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household where
Swedish was spoken regularly and English was a second language. Although her conservative family struggled to accept the fact that she was a lesbian, they remained close throughout her life. Much of her later poetry works were devoted to children (e.g. the collection
431:, explored the late Kennedy's military funeral, with lines arranged in the shape of a folded flag. Swenson is known for her heavy use of natural imagery, mixed with religious and philosophical themes. Her poem "By Morning", which was published in
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In 1936, Swenson worked as an editor and ghostwriter for a man called "Plat", who became her "boyfriend." "I think I should like to have a son by Plat", she wrote in her diary, "but I would not like to be married to any man, but only be myself."
441:. Swenson's sense of imagery also lends itself to erotic poems, as she describes human bodies, breasts and limbs and the "pelvic heave of mountains." Author Jean Gould describes Swenson's work as "sensual as well as sexual."
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from 1980 until her death in 1989. She is buried in the Logan City
Cemetery, and her grave is marked by a granite bench on which is etched some of her poetry. For the last twenty years of her life, she lived in
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281:. Swenson left New Directions Press in 1966 in an effort to focus completely on her own writing. She also served as a Chancellor of the
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houses most of
Swenson's documents and original manuscripts. This is the primary location for all scholarly materials on Swenson.
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by R. R. Knudson & Suzzane
Bigelow with a foreword by Richard Wilbur (Utah State University Press, 1996),
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The first child of
Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson, she grew up as the eldest of 10 children in a
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vital and provocative poets of the twentieth century. Judges for the competition have included
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considered her one of the most important and original poets of the 20th century.
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dedicated a May
Swenson room in the English Department and another in the USU
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217:(May 28, 1913 – December 4, 1989) was an American poet and playwright.
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She received much recognition for her work. Some of which include:
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William Rose Benet Prize of the Poetry
Society of America in 1959;
773:"Archives West: The May Swenson photograph collection, 1938-1991"
623:"May Swenson, a Humorous Poet of Cerebral Verse, is Dead at 76"
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703:"Blue by May Swenson - Poems | Academy of American Poets"
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Windows and Stones: Selected Poems of Tomas
Tranströmer (1972)
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New & Selected Things Taking Place (Little, Brown, 1978);
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The May Swenson Papers at Washington University in St. Louis
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Made With Words, ed. Gardner McFall (U of Mich Press, 1998).
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The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators
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To Mix with Time: New and Selected Poems (Scribner, 1963);
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Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More - May Swenson
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Lucy Martin Donnelly Award of Bryn Mawr College in 1968;
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Poems to Solve (for children "14-up") (Scribner, 1966);
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National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in 1960;
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and others from the first tier of American letters.
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Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
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Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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798:"Archives West: May Swenson addendum, 1932-1997"
389:Brandeis University Creative Arts Award in 1967;
722:. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. pp.
502:Digitized selected works by and about Swenson:
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748:"Archives West: May Swenson papers, 1932-1998"
646:. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p.
437:compares a snowfall to the biblical fall of
546:Collected Poems (Library of America, 2013).
827:. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 358.
423:" style, first published in her 1970 book
263:University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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597:"They have the numbers; we, the heights,"
401:Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship in 1960,
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
621:Bernstein, Richard (December 5, 1989).
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537:More Poems to Solve (Scribner, 1971);
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504:May Swenson Addendum (Selected items)
377:American Introductions Prize in 1955;
682:May Swenson: A Poet's Life in Photos
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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979:20th-century American women writers
407:Bollingen Prize for poetry in 1981,
267:University of California, Riverside
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989:20th-century American LGBTQ people
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522:A Cage of Spines (Rinehart, 1958);
450:Washington University in St. Louis
383:Longview Foundation Award in 1959;
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854:Spring 1991, Volume 8.1 (Poetry)
519:Another Animal (Scribner, 1954);
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611:. Accessed February 15, 2012.
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543:In Other Words (Knopf, 1987);
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410:MacArthur Fellowship in 1987.
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415:Style, imagery and eroticism
395:Shelley Poetry Award in 1968
297:Her poems were published in
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875:Robert A. Wilson collection
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602:April 26, 2012, at the
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934:LGBTQ people from Utah
919:Latter Day Saint poets
461:Merrill-Cazier Library
369:Awards and recognition
355:was also published in
456:Utah State University
275:Utah State University
251:Utah State University
199:Utah State University
914:American women poets
716:Gould, Jean (1984).
640:Gould, Jean (1984).
306:The Atlantic Monthly
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869:May Swenson Society
312:Carleton Miscellany
288:Sea Cliff, New York
627:The New York Times
939:MacArthur Fellows
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271:Purdue University
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41:Please help
36:verification
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899:1989 deaths
894:1913 births
860:, Poets.org
858:Swenson bio
485:Alice Quinn
469:Mary Oliver
425:Iconographs
351:. Her poem
255:Logan, Utah
231:Iconographs
187:Nationality
148:Logan, Utah
127:May Swenson
888:Categories
583:References
421:iconograph
318:The Nation
177:Playwright
172:Occupation
99:March 2013
69:newspapers
481:Mark Doty
342:Parnassus
237:laureate
175:Poet and
807:June 14,
782:June 14,
757:June 14,
692:, p. 39.
600:Archived
571:See also
362:The Host
359:'s book
353:Question
190:American
300:Antaeus
215:Swenson
83:scholar
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514:Poetry
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