Ammons, A. R.

Ammons, A. R. (Archie Randolph Ammons), 1926–2001, American poet, b. Whiteville, N.C., grad. Wake Forest College (1949). He began writing poetry while serving in the Navy during World War II, and, after working as a school principal and sales executive, he taught creative writing (1964–71) at Cornell Univ. His second book of poetry, Expressions of Sea Level (1964), established him as a major American poet and exhibited his characteristic tone and themes: conversational free verse that frequently deals with the interrelationship of human beings and nature in a modern echo of transcendentalism. His other books of poetry include Tape for the Turn of the Year (1965), Collected Poems 1951–1971 (1972, National Book Award), Sphere (1974, Bollingen Prize), Garbage (1993, National Book Award), Glare (1996), and the posthumously published Bosh and Flapdoodle (2005).

Bibliography

See Z. Burr, ed., Set in Motion: Essays, Interviews, and Dialogues/A. R. Ammons (1996); studies by A. Holder (1978), H. Bloom, ed. (1986), R. Kirschten, ed. (1997), S. P. Schneider, ed. (1999), and D. Burak and R. Gilbert, ed. (2005).

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Ammons, A. R. (Archie Randolph) (1926–  ) poet, teacher; born in Whitehall, N.C. He studied at Wake Forest College, N.C. (B.S. 1949), the University of California: Berkeley (1951–52), worked in New Jersey (1952–61), and began teaching at Cornell University in 1964. He is noted as a poet in the transcendental tradition.