W. D. Snodgrass

Roy Scheele
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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…

2333 words

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.]

4137 W. D. Snodgrass 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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