William Kendrick Smithyman, who died in 1995, had by then earned a secure status well up in the middle order of New Zealand poets. His stances as a poet can be seen as vitally affected by his sense of his place in relation to his literary lineage, in that he chose to react against, rather than respond positively to, the kinds of poetry that the other poets were producing, and the kinds of rationales emerging in local literary-critical discourses, and to draw instead upon recent American poets and discourses. In later life he shifted to a more relaxed stance.
Much of the information about his life and career has been placed on record by Peter Simpson, and a general indebtedness to Simpson’s work is hereby acknowledged, as well as a specific one for the above insights.
Much of the…
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Citation: Ross, John C.. "William Kendrick Smithyman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4133, accessed 23 April 2024.]
