Ciardi, John

Ciardi, John (chēär`dē), 1916–86, American poet, b. Boston, grad. Tufts College, B.A., 1938, Univ. of Michigan, M.A., 1939. His poetry, noted for its wit and perception, includes Homeward to America (1940), Live Another Day (1949), In the Stoneworks (1961), and For Instance (1979). He also wrote How Does A Poem Mean? (1960); verse translations of Dante's Inferno (1954) and Purgatorio (1970); and Dialogue With an Audience (1963), reprints of his pieces for The Saturday Review, with readers' replies. His love of word origins led to two collections, A Browser's Dictionary (1980) and A Second Browser's Dictionary (1983).

Bibliography

See study by V. Clemente (1987).

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Ciardi, John (Anthony) (1916–86) poet, writer, teacher; born in Boston, Mass. He attended Bates College (1934–36), Tufts (B.A. 1938), and the University of Michigan (M.A. 1939). He taught at many institutions, was director of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Vt. (1956–72), and was poetry editor of the Saturday Review (1956–72). Based in Metuchen, N.J., in his later years, he was known as a lecturer and etymologist as well as for his poetry and translations.