A Bit About Wilbur

The Poet

Since we are looking at a poem by Richard Wilbur this week, I thought it would be helpful to share a little about Wilbur himself.

Wilbur was born in 1921, in New York City, but grew up in New Jersey. Yesterday was his birthday, actually. He was only 8 years old when his first poem was published in a magazine. Quite an amazing acheivement. He graduated high school in 1938, and went to college for his undergradute degree.

If you know history, you know what is coming next for Richard Wilbur. From 1943 to 1945 he served in the Army and went overseas to fight in World War II. I could not find much of anything concerning his service, although I am sure someone knows.

Upon his return from war, he went to Harvard for a graduate degree and then he became a professor at few schools: Wellsely College, Wesleyan University, Smith College, and finally Amherst College.

During his writing career, which was most of his life, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, and collecting over 20 other literary awards. He has 11 collections of poetry published as well. He is one of the most prolific American poets. The collection of poems I have is this one, The Poems of Richard Wilbur.

Wilbur died in 2017 at the ripe old age of 96 years.

Here is a short video where he reads our poem this week and discuss it. Enjoy!