John Gould Fletcher
John Gould Fletcher was an American poet born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1886. He attended Harvard University, where he moved away from his Christian upbringing and developed an interest in Buddhism and Asian art, which significantly influenced his poetry. Fletcher became a prominent figure in the imagist movement while living in Europe, aligning himself with notable poets like Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. The imagist movement sought to break away from the formalism of 19th-century poetry, emphasizing free verse and concrete imagery, often drawing from Eastern influences.
In the 1920s, Fletcher returned to Arkansas and shifted his focus towards more traditional poetic forms, exploring themes of childhood and Southern regionalism. He joined the Southern Agrarians, a collective of writers critical of modernity's impact on Southern culture, contributing to the influential essay collection *I'll Take My Stand* in 1930. Fletcher's literary achievements included winning the Pulitzer Prize for his *Selected Poems* in 1939. Sadly, his life ended in tragedy in 1950 when he took his own life. Fletcher’s legacy as a poet reflects both his embrace of modern influences and his dedication to Southern traditions.
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John Gould Fletcher
Poet
- Born: January 3, 1886
- Birthplace: Little Rock, Arkansas
- Died: May 10, 1950
- Place of death: Little Rock, Arkansas
Biography
John Gould Fletcher, an Arkansas-born and Harvard-educated poet, lived much of his life in Europe but ultimately returned to his home state, where he was an advocate for reviving traditional ways in the face of the transformations of the modern world. Fletcher’s own life was rife with transformation, however, and his essential stance remains an enigma to scholars.
Born in Little Rock in 1886, Fletcher enrolled at Harvard just after the turn of the twentieth century. Something in this new environment caused him to abandon the Christian faith of his upbringing. Fletcher then developed an interest in Buddhism and Asian art; images drawn from Japanese culture figured in much of his poetry, and he published a critical volume, Japanese Prints, in 1918.
Fletcher lived in Europe for many years, where he was a central figure in the group of poets known as the imagists; the most famous members of this group were Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. The imagists rejected much of formalism and sentimentality that characterized the poetry of the nineteenth century in favor of free verse built on concrete imagery. These emphases worked well with Fletcher’s interests in Asian poetry, as Chinese and Japanese sources were influential on the development of the imagist style.
In the 1920’s Fletcher returned to Arkansas and also to more-traditional poetic forms and subjects. He began to explore childhood memories and themes of Southern regionalism in his work. Fletcher associated himself with a group of writers known as the Southern Agrarians, who collectively published a book of essays entitled I’ll Take My Stand (1930), which cast a critical eye on the impact of modernity and industrialization on the traditional ways of the South. Fletcher was married in1936 to Charlie May Simon, an author of children’s literature. His Selected Poems was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. He continued to publish through the 1940’s and published a history of Arkansas in 1947. In 1950, during a bout with depression, John Gould Fletcher drowned himself in a Little Rock pond.