Name Michael Harper | Role Poet | |
 | ||
Awards Robert Frost Medal, Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada People also search for Anthony Walton, Sterling Allen Brown, Ronald A. Sharp Books Dear John - dear Coltrane, Nightmare begins responsibility, Songlines in Michaeltree, Honorable amendments, Debridement | ||
Lunch poems michael s harper
Michael Steven Harper (March 18, 1938 – May 7, 2016) was an American poet and English professor at Brown University, who was the Poet Laureate of Rhode Island from 1988 to 1993. His poetry was influenced by jazz and history.
Contents
- Lunch poems michael s harper
- The michael s harper interview on the paul leslie hour
- Early life and education
- Career
- Personal life
- Work
- References
He said that the most important thing he learned from musicians was phrasing, and the authenticity of phrasing, the transcendence and spiritual mastery. He published ten books of poetry, two of which—Dear John, Dear Coltrane (1970) and Images of Kin (1977)—were nominated for the National Book Award. Many of his poems have been included as examples of African-American literature and jazz poetry in various anthologies.
The michael s harper interview on the paul leslie hour
Early life and education
Harper was born in Brooklyn first of three children into a middle class black family. His father Walter (who went by his middle name, Warren) was the originator of "overnight" mail and worked as a post office supervisor. His mother Katherine Louise, née Johnson was a medical secretary. He had a younger brother Jonathan Paul, born in 1941, who died of a motorcycle accident in 1977, and a younger sister, Katherine Winifred, born 1943. He grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant until his family moved to their homestead in Los Angeles in 1951, where he attended Dorsey High School.
In 1955, he attended Los Angeles City College, initially enrolling in pre-med courses later literature, graduating in 1959 with an associate of arts degree. At the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences (now California State University, Los Angeles, he earned a B.A. and a M.A. in English studies in 1961. He joined the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa and earned an M.F.A. in 1963.
Career
He taught English at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California and his poems appeared in small magazines. In 1968, he became poet in residence at Lewis & Clark College and taught at Reed College both in Portland, Oregon. In 1970, he taught at California State College in Hayward, California.
He joined the English faculty at Brown University, where he taught literature courses and poetry workshops to undergraduates He remained there until retiring in December 2013 and was the longest serving professor of English and Literary Arts at that institution.
In 1993, Nathan A. Scott wrote in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics that "Harper has created a body of work which, though it has won much respect and admiration, deserves to be far more widely known than it is."
Personal life
Harper was married and had a daughter, Rachel, also a writer, and two sons, Roland and Patrice. He later divorced. He lived in Providence, Rhode Island until his death on May 7, 2016. Harper had two children who died at birth, which inspired several of his early poems, including the famous "Nightmare Begins Responsibility". .
Work
Harper wrote about people important in African-American history, including Jackie Robinson, Richard Wright and the John Brown. He said in a 2000 interview with Terry Gross, that the most important thing he learned from musicians was phrasing, and the authenticity of phrasing, the transcendence and spiritual mastery.
Harper often wrote about his wife, Shirley (commonly referred to as "Shirl"), their children, and their ancestors, as well as friends and various black historical and cultural figures.
He has released one CD, of poetry accompanied by jazz music: