Born: Saginaw Michigan, May 25, 1908 to German immigrant who owned nursery
Attended University of Michigan (M.A. and B.A.) and Harvard
Professor of English: Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University, Bennington College and University of Washington.
1940: expelled from Lafayette (shortly before - affair with Louise Bogan)
While teaching at Michigan developed beginnings of manic depression - creative impetus for poetry
1953 married former student Beatrice O'Connell
1963 suffered a heart attack in a friend's pool and
Died 1963 on Bainbridge Island, Washington at age of 55
Pulitzer prize for "The Waking" in 1954, and the National Book Award in 1965 for his posthumous collection, The Far Field
- Purpose: examine cycle of life and death, birth and decay and the unnecessary fear of fate - need to embrace