W(illiam) D(eWitt) Snodgrass was born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania on January 5, 1926. He attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania from 1943 to 1944 and again, after serving in the U.S. Navy, in 1946, then took his B.A. (1949), M.A. (1951), and M.F.A. (1953) from the University of Iowa. His first book of verse,
Heart’s Needle, grew out of his time at Iowa and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1959, largely on the recommendation of Robert Lowell; it won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. This successful debut volume was followed by
After Experience(1968),
The Fuehrer Bunker(1977),
Selected Translations(1998), and
Not for Specialists: New and Selected Poems(2006), as well as a number of limited edition/small press collections. In addition to the Pulitzer, Snodgrass…
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Citation: Scheele, Roy. "W. D. Snodgrass". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 July 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4137, accessed 12 October 2024.]