William Everson

Robert Brophy (California State University, Long Beach)
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William Everson led three distinct lives in three very different California landscapes—as farmer in the Central Valley, as monk in the San Francisco Bay Area, and as shaman in the Santa Cruz Mountains.. His beginnings were in the vast farm country of the San Joaquin Valley. Born September 10th, 1912, he grew through young adulthood in Selma just south of Fresno amidst granges, orchards, and grape fields, where his father was a printer and town bandmaster. While irregularly attending Fresno State College, he came upon a volume of Robinson Jeffers’ poetry. Thunderstruck and inspired, he began writing his own poems. In time he married his childhood sweetheart, Edwa Poulson, and bought a farm to grow Muscat grapes. Predictably here his poetry was about the rich earth, the turn of seasons,…

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Citation: Brophy, Robert. "William Everson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 July 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1464, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1464 William Everson 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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