Richard Eberhart
Richard Eberhart (1904-2005) was an influential American poet known for his introspective and often existential themes. Born on a forty-acre estate near Austin, Minnesota, he faced significant personal challenges early in life, including the loss of his mother to cancer and his father's financial downfall. These experiences shaped his worldview and literary voice, leading him to seek truth through extensive travels and academic pursuits at institutions such as Dartmouth College and St. John's College, Cambridge. Eberhart served in the Navy during World War II, and his wartime experiences deeply impacted his poetry, evident in works like "World War" and "Brotherhood of Men."
Post-war, he balanced a career in business with his literary endeavors, taking on roles as a lecturer and poet-in-residence at various prestigious universities. Eberhart founded the Poets' Theatre in Cambridge and held notable positions, including poet laureate of New Hampshire and honorary consultant in American letters to the Library of Congress. His literary contributions earned him significant accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 and the National Book Award in 1977. With a career spanning seven decades, Eberhart remains a respected figure in American poetry, recognized for his ability to draw from personal tragedy and broader human experiences.
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Richard Eberhart
American poet
- Born: April 5, 1904
- Birthplace: Austin, Minnesota
- Died: June 9, 2005
- Place of death: Hanover, New Hampshire
Biography
Richard Eberhart (EHB-ur-hahrt) grew up on Burr Oaks, a forty-acre estate near Austin, Minnesota, where his father was an executive in the George A. Hormel Company. He graduated from high school with various distinctions in 1921. The following year his mother died of cancer, and his father was embezzled out of his fortune. Eberhart once said, “The violent changes in my early world subsequently drove me around the world and to Cambridge University in search of truth.” He began his college career with one year’s study at the University of Minnesota. He then attended Dartmouth College, where he received an A.B. in 1926. In 1927, he sailed around the world as a deck boy on tramp steamers; he stayed at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and received his A.B. in 1929. The next year he tutored the son of King Prajadhipok of Siam in Washington, D.C., after which he attended graduate school at Harvard in 1932. He received his M.A. from Cambridge in 1933, and from 1933 to 1941 he taught English at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Butcher in 1941; they had one son and one daughter.
Eberhart served in the Navy during World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in 1946. Although such poems as “World War,” “At the End of War,” and “Brotherhood of Men” come from his war experiences, the persistence of death in his poetry undoubtedly grew from the personal tragedy of his mother’s long and painful death. Similarly, the stoical narrator of “Brotherhood of Men” who finds strength in suffering was probably as much inspired by his father as by the war; Eberhart said that his father lost his fortune but not his spirit or love of life.
After 1946, Eberhart was active both as a businessman (vice president and member of the board of directors of Butcher Polish Company) and as a lecturer and poet-in-residence at the University of Connecticut (1953), Princeton University (1955), and Dartmouth (beginning in 1956). One of the few American authors of verse plays, he founded and was the first president of the Poets’ Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1950. In 1963, he began a three-year appointment as honorary consultant in American letters to the Library of Congress; he also served as poet laureate of New Hampshire.
Eberhart received most major awards for poetry in a career spanning seven decades. Among the most distinguished were the Pulitzer Prize for Selected Poems in 1966, the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets in 1969, and the National Book Award in 1977 for Collected Poems. He also filled one of the fifty chairs of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and served as honorary president of the Poetry Society of America.
Bibliography
Engel, Bernard F. Richard Eberhart. New York: Twayne, 1971. An introductory biography and critical study of selected works. Includes a bibligraphy of Eberhart’s works.
Ginsberg, Allen. To Eberhart from Ginsberg: A Letter About Howl, 1956, An Explanation by Allen Ginsberg of His Publication “Howl” and Richard Eberhart’s “New York Times” Article “West Coast Rhythms.” Penmaen Press, 1976. Ginsberg’s essay casts light on both Eberhart and their times.
Hoffman, Daniel G. Hunting a Master Image: The Poetry of Richard Eberhart. Special issue of The Hollins Critic 1, no. 4 (October, 1964). Devoted to Eberhart’s poetics.
Lea, Sydney, Jay Parini, and M. Robin Barone, eds. Richard Eberhart: A Celebration. Hanover, N.H.: Kenyon Hill Publications, 1980. A collection of essays on Eberhart and his work.
Negative Capability 6 (Spring/Summer, 1986). This “Richard Eberhart Symposium Issue” contains letters to Eberhart, commentaries and critical articles on the poet’s work, an interview, and poems, essays, and addresses by Eberhart. It is edited by Sue Brannan Walker and Jane Mayhall.
Roache, Joel. Richard Eberhart. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. This book is a biography that covers the twists and turns of Eberhart’s career from 1904 to 1961. Contains a selected bibliography.
Thorslev, Peter L., Jr. “The Poetry of Richard Eberhart.” In Poets in Progress, edited by Edward Hungerford. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1962. A critical appraisal of Eberhart’s work, with an analysis of specific poems.
Van Dore, Wade. Richard Eberhart: Poet of Life in Death. Tampa, Fla.: American Studies Press, 1982. A small pamphlet that deals specifically with Eberhart’s study of death.