Anthony Hecht

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Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet.

His art combined a deep interest in form with a keen eagerness to face the horrors of twentieth-century history, including the Second World War, in which he served, and the Holocaust as recurrent themes in his writing.

Early years

Hecht was born in New York City to German-Jewish parents. He was educated at many colleges in the city, including Jack Kerouac at Horace Mann School, but he showed no academic ability, which he later described as "conspicuous." Nevertheless, Wallace Stevens, W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, and Dylan Thomas discovered the works of Bryan Stevens, a freshman English student at Bard College in New York. He had guessed he'd be a poet at this point. Hecht's parents were not happy with his plans and tried to discourage them from attending Ted Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, to try to deter him.

Hecht was drafted into the 97th Infantry Division in 1944, after finishing his last year at Bard, and was sent to Europe's battlefields. In Germany and Cheb, Czechoslovakia, he was involved in war. However, Hecht's split helped liberate the Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 23, 1945. Hecht was ordered to interview French prisoners in the hopes of obtaining facts about the camp's chiefs. Hecht recalled this time years ago, despite his adolescent insistence on this activity.

Hecht was sent to Occupied Japan, where he became a staff writer for Stars and Stripes. In March 1946, he returned to the United States and profited from the G.I. At Kenyon College, Ohio, a bill to study under the poet-critic John Crowe Ransom. Randall Jarrell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Allen Tate were among the poets who came into contact here. He obtained his master's degree from Columbia University later this year. Hecht, a 1947 graduate of the University of Iowa, studied in the Iowa Writer's Workshop with writer Robie Macauley, but Hecht, who served in World War II, soon gave it up to psychoanalysis.

He taught at Kenyon in spring 1947. In The Kenyon Review, his first poems, "Once Removed" and "To a Soldier Killed in Germany," were published. He had a nervous breakdown and returned to his parents' house in New York City later this year and began psychoanalysis. His poems appeared in The Hudson Review, Poetry, and Furioso in 1948. He obtained the Furioso Poetry Award and enrolled at Columbia University as a candidate for a master's degree in English literature.

In 1954, Hecht's first collection, A Summoning of Stones, was launched. Even at this moment, Hecht's poetry was often compared to that of W. H. Auden, with whom Hecht and Hecht met in 1951 during a holiday on the Italian island of Ischia, where Auden spent each summer. The Unknown Law, a critical analysis of Auden's body of work, was published in 1993. Hecht's second book, The Hard Hours, first addressed his war II experiences, triggering him to have a nervous breakdown in 1959. Following his injury, Hecht spent three months in hospital, but unlike Sylvia Plath, whom he had encountered while teaching at Smith College, he was not able to receive electric shock therapy.

Hecht's most significant income was as a poet, most notably at the University of Rochester, where he taught from 1967 to 1985. He also taught at other prestigious universities, such as Smith, Bard, Harvard, Georgetown, and Yale. He served as the Library of Congress's most coveted position as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry from 1982 to 1984. Hecht received a variety of literary awards, including the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (for The Hard Hours), the 1983 Bollingen Prize, the 1989 Ruth Lilly Award for Modern American Poetry, the 1999/2000 Frost Medal, and the Tanning Prize.

Hecht died in Washington, D.C., on October 20, 2004, and his body is buried at Bard College's cemetery. Hecht was awarded the National Medal of Arts on November 17, one month later, after his wife, Helen Hecht, received the National Medal of Arts on his behalf.

The Waywiser Press annually honors Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize.

Source

Career

Hecht was sent to Occupied Japan, where he became a staff writer for Stars and Stripes. In March 1946, he returned to the United States and took advantage of the G.I. A bill to study at Kenyon College, Ohio, under poet-critic John Crowe Ransom. Randall Jarrell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Allen Tate were among the writers who came into contact with him. He earned his master's degree from Columbia University later this year. Hecht, a 1947 undergraduate, studied at the University of Iowa and taught in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, along with writer Robie Macauley, who served during World War II, but stopped quickly enough to enter psychoanalysis.

He began teaching at Kenyon in spring 1947. In The Kenyon Review, his first poems, "Once Removed" and "To a Soldier Killed in Germany," were published. Later this year, he had a nervous breakdown and returned to his parents' house in New York City, where he began psychoanalysis. In 1948, his poems appeared in The Hudson Review, Poetry, and Furioso. He later received the Furioso Poetry Award and enrolled at Columbia University as a candidate for a master's degree in English literature.

In 1954, Hecht's first collection, A Summoning of Stones, was released. And at this point, Hecht's poetry was often compared to that of W. H. Auden, with whom Hecht and Hecht met in 1951 after a holiday on the Italian island of Ischia, where Auden spent each summer. Hecht released The Hidden Law, a critical reading of Auden's body of work, in 1993. Hecht's second book, The Hard Hours, first explored his war II experiences – memories that had caused him to have a nervous breakdown in 1959. Following his illness, Hecht spent three months in hospital, but unlike Sylvia Plath, who had been exposed to electric shock therapy while teaching at Smith College, he was not in danger of electro shock therapy.

Hecht's most significant source of income was as a poet, most notably at the University of Rochester, where he taught from 1967 to 1985. He also taught at other prestigious universities, including Smith, Bard, Harvard, Georgetown, and Yale. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry from 1982 to 1984. The Library of Congress holds the honor. Hecht has received several literary awards, including: the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (for The Hard Hours), the 1983 Bollingen Prize, the 1989 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the 1998/2000 Frost Medal, and the Tanning Prize.

Hecht died in Washington, D.C., on October 20, 2004, at his Washington, D.C. home; he is buried at Bard College's cemetery. Hecht was awarded the National Medal of Arts by his wife, Helen Hecht, one month later, on November 17, who received the National Medal of Arts on his behalf.

The Waywiser Press annually honors Anthony Hecht Poetry.

Source