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Hardly anyone makes a living as a poet, unless you count a few songwriters. American academia has employed a lot of poets. Otherwise: T.S. Eliot spent much of h
by cafard 3y ago
Hardly anyone makes a living as a poet, unless you count a few songwriters. American academia has employed a lot of poets. Otherwise: T.S. Eliot spent much of his life working for a publisher, Faber & Faber; William Carlos Williams was a physician; Philip Larkin was a librarian at an English university; St. John Perse was a diplomat; I think Walt Whitman worked as a printer for a while.
- lainga 3y agoAnd in music, the most famous example, Philip Glass the dishwasher repairman
- _a_a_a_ 3y agoJoke I assume? Unless there's a Philip Glass the adult-films actor.
- Uhhrrr 3y ago“While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish.” https://improvisedlife.com/2014/06/11/phillip-glass-world-renowned-composer-taxi-driver-plumber/ https://improvisedlife.com/2014/06/11/phillip-glass-world-re...
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoSaint-John Perse famously wrote little poetry as a diplomat. Except for his stint in China, his diplomatic career involved an intentional turning away from poetry. What allowed him to return to poetry, in exile in the USA, was a Library of Congress consultant position created for him that was mostly a sinecure. Indeed, few make a living from poetry, but a sinecure has historically been the most that a poet could hope for. Also, Perse had rich and powerful friends and lovers in the USA, which allowed him to enjoy countryside retreats and fine dining beyond what that LoC position could have allowed him. Easier to be a poet when one's needs are amply met and one can work in peace.
- everybodyknows 3y agoAnd yet Wallace Stevens wrote while serving as an executive at an insurance company.
- cafard 3y agoFor some years before the US had a Poet Laureate, the equivalent honor was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. I know Randall Jarrell held the position for a year (whence, I suppose "The Woman at the Washington Zoo"), and I must have known of others. I was not aware of the effect of his diplomatic career on his output...
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoPerse wasn't that consultant, but rather a special position as a consultant in French literature was created for him. That Perse abandoned poetry after the publication of Anabase, because he felt it would conflict with his career as a diplomat, is a cornerstone of any biography of the poet.
- edavison1 3y agoWhitman was a full-time journalist for many years, both at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and elsewhere.