Judson Jerome
Judson Jerome was an influential American poet, essayist, novelist, dramatist, and educator, born on February 8, 1927, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His early life experiences, particularly his father's struggles with alcoholism and his parents' divorce, significantly informed his literary themes. Jerome's academic journey began at the University of Oklahoma, followed by military service in the U.S. Air Force, after which he completed his education with advanced degrees from the University of Chicago and Ohio State University. His career included teaching literature at Antioch College and the College of the Virgin Islands, where he also contributed to the establishment of the latter institution.
Jerome's literary output was diverse, with his first collection of poetry published in 1962 and his first novel released in 1966. He was dedicated to mentoring emerging poets and contributed a monthly column on poetry to Writer's Digest for over three decades. Later in life, Jerome focused on freelance writing and founded a commune in the Allegheny Mountains. He passed away from cancer on August 5, 1991, leaving behind a legacy that includes a scholarship in his name to support aspiring poets at the Antioch Writers' Workshop. His work is notable for a balance of traditional literary forms and a rejection of contemporary self-consciousness in art.
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Judson Jerome
Writer
- Born: February 8, 1927
- Birthplace: Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Died: August 5, 1991
Biography
Poet, essayist, novelist, dramatist, and educator Judson Jerome was born February 8, 1927, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ralph and Gwen (Stewart) Jerome. His father’s heavy drinking and his parents’ divorce later became a persistent motif in Jerome’s poetry. Jerome attended the University of Oklahoma from 1943 to1945, but was drafted into the U.S. Air Force; he became a sergeant before leaving the military in 1947 and resuming his studies. After marrying Martha-Jane Pierce (the “Marty” of his poems) on June 20, 1948, Jerome received an M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1950 and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1953. His first verse drama, Winter in Eden, was produced at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1955.
Jerome taught literature at Antioch from 1953 to 1963, becoming a Huntington Hartford fellow in 1959 and receiving an Amy Lowell traveling scholarship from 1960 through 1961. At Antioch he and novelist Nolan Miller edited a journal, New Campus Writing, and his first collection of poetry, Light in the West, was published in 1962. The next year, he moved to St. Thomas to help establish the College of the Virgin Islands, teaching there for two years before publishing his first novel, The Fell of the Dark (1966).
Returning to Antioch College, he became director of the school’s experimental Inner College until 1969; he then taught literature at Antioch’s satellite Washington-Baltimore campus until 1971. In 1972, Jerome retired from teaching to become a freelance writer and lecturer. He also founded Downhill Farm, a commune in the Allegheny Mountains. Jerome published a retrospective of his verse, Thirty Years of Poetry, in 1979. In 1983, after their five children were grown, Jerome and his wife returned to Yellow Springs, but not to the academic life of Antioch.
Most of his writing in the last years of his life was published by his own imprint, Trunk Press. Jerome died of cancer on August 5, 1991. A novel, Nude, was published the year of his death, as was another collection of poetry, Myrtle Whimple: Selected Poems; his autobiographical The Youthful Look: A Memoir, 1947-1952, was published in 1992.
Jerome was interested in helping other poets publish their work and perfect their craft. For many years, from 1960 through 1992 (posthumously), he published a monthly column on poetry in Writer’s Digest magazine, and in 1985 he began editing the annual Poet’s Market books. In his poetry and novels, Jerome both admired and employed traditional forms, rejecting the self-conscious artiness of much contemporary writing. The Judson Jerome Poetry Scholarship, for the Antioch Writers’ Workshop, a weeklong conference, was established in his honor.