John Meade Haines
John Meade Haines was an American poet and writer, born in 1924 in Norfolk, Virginia. His early life was influenced by his father's naval career, leading him to spend formative years in California and Washington, D.C., where he developed a love for language through storytelling. After serving in the navy during World War II, Haines's life took a pivotal turn when he traveled to Alaska, where he lived in a self-built home and became deeply inspired by the wilderness. This experience prompted him to focus on writing, as he felt it better captured the vastness of his surroundings than painting could.
Haines's first book of poems, *Winter News*, published in 1966, showcased the Alaskan landscape's beauty and garnered comparisons to notable poets like Robert Bly and James Wright. His work often drew from personal experiences, reflecting the challenges and solitude he encountered in the North. Over the years, Haines held various academic positions, including poet-in-residence and visiting writer roles, earning recognition through awards such as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Congress and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His contributions to poetry and literature continue to resonate, highlighting the profound connection between his life experiences and artistic expression.
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John Meade Haines
Poet
- Born: June 29, 1924
- Birthplace: Norfolk, Virginia
- Died: March 2, 2011
Biography
John Meade Haines was born in 1924 in Norfolk, Virginia, where his father was an officer at the naval training station. He spent his early years in California after his father was stationed there. As an adolescent, he lived in Washington, D.C., and he often went fishing with his father in nearby Maryland and Virginia. His father also read aloud to him in his early years, a custom which wakened him to the beauties of language.
After serving in the navy during World War II, Haines briefly attended the National Art School in Washington, D. C., but he interrupted his plans for a career in art to visit Alaska. This trip was a turning point in his life, as he found himself under the power of the vast wilderness. He lived in Alaska for a year in a house which he built himself on homesteaded land, learning how to cope with the harsh weather and solitude. While there, he began to write, having concluded that painting could never adequately capture the vast landscape that so moved him.
Upon his return to Washington, D.C., he attended art school at American University, where he was introduced to artists and writers, acquaintances he maintained when he moved to New York City. There, Haines consciously committed himself to a career in writing rather than in the graphic arts. He returned to Alaska, supporting himself by hunting, trapping, and doing carpentry jobs.
His first book of poems, Winter News, was published in 1966. It made powerful use of the Alaskan landscape, and the spareness and power of the poems’ imagery led readers to compare them to the work of American poets Robert Bly and James Wright. Haines has noted in his essays that some of these poems had their roots in his personal experiences.
In 1972 and 1973, Haines was a poet-in-residence at the University of Alaska. During this time, he won an Amy Lowell Scholarship to travel in England, where he began to collect material for The Stars, the Snow, the Fire: Twenty-Five Years in the Northern Wilderness, a Memoir. Haines later was a visiting writer at a number of universities, including the University of Montana and George Washington University, and served as the chair of poetry at the University of Cincinnati. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Congress and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Poets.