Snodgrass, W. D.

Snodgrass, W. D. (William DeWitt Snodgrass), 1926–, American poet and translator, b. Wilkinsburg, Pa., grad. Univ. of Iowa, 1959. He is particularly known for Heart's Needle (1959; Pulitzer Prize), a collection of poems about a father's love for his daughter. Snodgrass has moved from early confessional poetry written in traditional styles to wider interests and freer formal treatments. His other volumes of poetry include The Remains (1970), Selected Poems: 1957–1987 (1987), The Death of Cock Robin (1989), and Each in His Season (1993). He has published several translations from the German, notably of works by Christian Morgenstern; his Selected Translations was published in 1998. Snodgrass is also the author of Radical Pursuits (1974), a collection of literary critical essays. In 1977 he began The Führer Bunker: A Cycle of Poems in Progress, imagined dialogues for Nazi public figures, completing it in 1995 with The Führer Bunker: The Complete Cycle. Many of his more recent poems and a selection of his older verse were published in Not for Specialists (2006). Snodgrass has taught at several universities.

Bibliography

See his After-Images: Autobiographical Sketches (1999) and W. D. Snodgrass in Conversation with Philip Hoy (1998); study by P. L. Gaston (1978); S. Haven, ed., The Poetry of W. D. Snodgrass (1993); P. Raisor, ed., Tuned and under Tension: The Recent Poetry of W. D. Snodgrass (1998).

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Snodgrass, W. D. (William DeWitt) (S. S. Gardons, pen name) (1926–  ) poet, writer; born in Wilkinsburg, Pa. He studied at Geneva College, Pa. (1943–44; 1946) and the University of Iowa (B.A. 1949; M.A. 1951; M.F.A. 1953). He taught at many institutions, notably the University of Delaware (1980). Based in Erieville, N.Y., he published translations, critical essays, and a play, but he is best known for his first volume of personal poetry, Heart's Needle (1959).