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Randall Jarrell
1914-1965
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| Randall Jarrell is buried in New Garden
Friends Cemetery, Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, USA.
(See map...ref no. 10)
During World War II Jarrell served in the army air corps and as a
control tower operator. During this time he wrote many poems about
war - most of which appeared in his collections Little Friend, Little
Friend (1945) and Losses (1948).
After World War II he taught at Sarah Lawrence College which
provided him with the inspiration for his satirical novel Pictures from an Institution
(1954) which was a forerunner of the campus novel.
Grave of Randall Jarrell
Photograph by Legerdemaine |
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Randall Jarrell |
Jarrell was one of the leading poetry critics of his generation
and helped to establish the reputation of fellow poets such as
Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop and
William Carlos Williams.
From 1956-58 he served as the poetry consultant at the library of Congress. Towards the end of his life he suffered
from mental illness and attempted suicide by slashing his wrists.
By 1965 he had recovered sufficiently to return to teaching -
however while
out walking one night he was struck by a car and killed. It
is not known for certain whether his death was accidental or another suicide
attempt. He was 50 years old. His final collection The Lost
World was published posthumously in 1966. |
| From my mother's sleep I fell into the
State |
| And I hunched in its belly till my wet
fur froze. |
| Six miles from earth, loosed from its
dream of life, |
| I woke to black flak and the nightmare
fighters. |
| When I died they washed me out of the
turret with a hose. |
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner |
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Links:
Randall Jarrell (Modern American Poetry)
Click here to buy poetry by Randall Jarrell |
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