May Swenson was an American poet whose work is noted for its engaging imagery, intricate wordplay, and eccentric use of typography. Her poetry has been compared to that of Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, and George Herbert.
Background
Swenson was born May 28, 1919, in Logan, Utah. The first child of Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson, she grew up as the eldest of 10 children in a Mormon household where Swedish was spoken regularly and English was a second language. Although her conservative family struggled to accept the fact that she was a lesbian, they remained close throughout her life.
Education
Swenson attended Utah State University in Logan, Utah, graduating in the class of 1934 with a bachelor's degree.
Career
After graduating from Utah State University, she worked as an editor at New Directions and was writer-in-residence at Purdue University in 1966-1967. She was a popular reader of her own work and was often recorded. A number of contemporary composers set her verses to music. In addition to seven volumes of poetry, she wrote three books of light verse for children. Her translations of contemporary Swedish poets are widely acclaimed. She died December 4, 1989. Swenson's first three books, Another Animal (1954), A Cage of Spines (1958), and To Mix With Time (1963), distinguished her as one whose keen appreciation of "thingness" combined with an incantatory voice to raise things to a higher "power": Any object before the Eyecan fill the space can occupythe supple frame of eternitymy Hand before me suchtangents reaches into Muchroot and twig extremes can touch Sight and touch are her prime receptors, antennae to capture her surroundings. The poet's eyes and hands appear as protagonists in poem after poem, not merely looking or reaching to grasp, but engulfing and absorbing, exchanging natures with everything seen and felt. Swenson spoke of her "craving to get through the curtains of things as they appear, to things as they are, and then into the larger, wilder shapes of things as they are becoming. " In her fourth book, Half Sun Half Sleep (1967), she describes the process of allowing "iridium specks of idea to thrive/in the culture of my eye. " She will make a nap of stroked fur or feathers reveal the secret wild natures of the animals that wear them and then advance these perceptions into allegories of significance for human lives. In "Strawberrying, " for example, she compares a human berry-picker with a predatory bird, yet sees in both the desire to snatch pleasure even at the expense of inflicting damage: My hands are murder-red. Many a plump headdrops on the heap in the basket. Or, ripeto bursting, they might be hearts, matchingthe blackbird's wing-fleck. Gripped to a reedhe shrieks his ko-ka-ree in the next field. He's left his peck in some juicy cheeks, when at first blush and mostly white, they showedstreaks of sweetness to the marauder. Typically, Swenson has gotten to the heart of the matter the "meta" of the physical without the least sacrifice of either.
Views
Quotations:
"The best poetry has its roots in the subconscious to a great degree. Youth, naivety, reliance on instinct more than learning and method, a sense of freedom and play, even trust in randomness, is necessary to the making of a poem. "
"Take earth for your own large room and the floor of earth carpeted with sunlight and hung round with silver wind for your dancing place. "
"The summer that I was ten - Can it be there was only one summer that I was ten? It must have been a long one then. "