Tuesday 30 September 2008

Sadly, Hayden Carruth has passed away

August 3, 1921 -- September 29, 2008
Carruth, who suffered a series of strokes toward the end of summer, passed away in his home late yesterday. No eulogies just yet, just news in brief from these sources:
Syracuse.com
Vermont Public Radio
AM New York
Associated Press

Here is his poem "Endnote."

I was an admirer of both his talent and his conviction for what he believed was best in poetry. I will remember him by reading his books.

UPDATE: OCTOBER 3rd, 2008.

The Eulogies:

The New York Times:
The tension between the chaos of the human heart and the sublime order of nature imbued his best work with a sense of momentous struggle, “a Lear-like words-against-the-storm quality,” as the critic Geoffrey Gardner put it. Mr. Carruth wrote: “My poems, I think, exist in a state of tension between the love of natural beauty and the fear of natural meaninglessness or absurdity.”
The Washington Post:
Through years of isolation and neglect, he doggedly continued to write, gaining belated recognition for his more than 30 books. A 1996 Virginia Quarterly Review article described him as "certainly one of the most important poets working in this country today."
Newsday:
At Syracuse, his students included Haxton and acclaimed fiction writer George Saunders.
"I used to sit at the end of the table farthest from Hayden, because he was so terrifyingly brilliant," Saunders said. "You'd spout off about Ezra Pound and then he'd say, 'Now, what I remember about Ezra was. ...' I don't think I said a word all year. Just sat there quietly and soaked it all in."

2 comments:

Lauren said...

Thanks for posting this, Paul. I am going to get one of his collections.

Paul Vermeersch said...

Yor're welcome, Lauren.

'Toward the Distant Isalnds' or 'Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey' are both a good place to start.