Strand, Mark

Strand, Mark, 1934–2014, American poet, b. Prince Edward Island, Canada, grad. Antioch College (B.A., 1957), Yale (B.F.A., 1959), Iowa Writers' Workshop (M.A., 1962). Meditative and death-haunted, his succinct early poetry is noted for its confrontation with the surreal and irrational; his later work is longer and more inclusive. His collections include Sleeping with One Eye Open (1964), Darker (1970), Selected Poems (1980), Dark Harbor (1995), Blizzard of One (1998; Pulitzer Prize), and Collected Poems: Mark Strand (2014). He also published a novel, Mr. and Mrs. Baby (1985); edited several distinguished poetry anthologies, including The Contemporary American Poets (1969) and Another Republic (1976); and wrote studies of the painters William Bailey and Edward Hopper. A MacArthur fellow (1987), Strand was poet laureate of the United States (1990–91).

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