Amy Clampitt

@Poets, Facts and Family ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Amy Clampitt was an American poet and author known for works marked by dense language and complex allusions American Writers Poets Gemini Celebrities Amy Clampitt was an American poet and author known for works marked by dense language and complex allusions. She published her first book of poetry at the age of 63. Her acclaimed book of poems ‘The Kingfisher’ was more like the work of a mature poet, rather than one publishing for the first time. After ‘The Kingfisher’, four more major literary works were published, with the last being ‘A Silence Opens’. She reflected a blend of Quaker roots and Bohemian New York life, expressed with a fluent rush of words that conveyed a sense of motion. Her works made abundant use of erudite allusions that are supported by detailed footnotes. Her poetry is distinguished by a number of notable characteristics that include the generous use of dashes and hyphens, single letters, long dependent clause strings and obscure vocabulary. Her major publications are considered to be virtuoso works of art. She wrote with the awareness of having to produce a lifetime's worth of work in far less than a lifetime's length. Her poems often involved journeys, classical myth, images of femaleness and a sense of the natural world as numinous. Her poetry is ornate, dense, filled with arcane allusions, erudite and linguistically elegant. She became a major voice for contemporary American poetry, and her works continue to be interpreted.

Personal Details

Birthday: June 15, 1920 Died on: September 10, 1994 Nationality: American Famous: Writers, Poets Spouses: Harold Korn Universities: Grinnell College Birth Place: New Providence, Iowa Information Detail Birthday June 15, 1920 Died on September 10, 1994 Nationality American Famous Writers, Poets Spouses Harold Korn Universities Grinnell College Birth Place New Providence, Iowa Gender Female Sun Sign Gemini Born in New Providence, Iowa Famous as Poet Died at Age 74

New Providence, Iowa

Amy Clampitt born at Unsplash Birth Place

She grew up watching her mother spending all her time and energy on children and household chores and thus she decided not to get married or have children in her life. Unsplash Personal Life

She shared an apartment on the Upper East Side with Harold Korn, a professor at Columbia University Law School, for the last 25 years of her life. She married him in June 1994, three months before her death. Unsplash Personal Life

She died on 10 September 1994, in Lenox, Massachusetts, due to ovarian cancer. Unsplash Personal Life

She was born on 15 June 1920 to Quaker Parents in New Providence, Iowa on a three-hundred-acre farm belonging to her paternal grandfather. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

She was the first of five children and she lived on the farm until she was ten, when her parents moved to a new house. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

She originally began writing poetry at the age of nine. She turned to fiction in high school. After 12 years in the local public schools, where she felt out of place, she moved on to Grinnell College. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1941, she graduated with a B.A. degree in English and from that time on lived mainly in New York City. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

She began graduate studies at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research but left to work as a secretary for the Oxford University Press. Unsplash Career

During the 1940s and early 1950s, she held numerous jobs while attempting to write novels. Unsplash Career

She worked at the National Audubon Society as a reference librarian from 1952 to 1959, and was a freelance writer, researcher and editor from 1960 till 1977. Unsplash Career

At the same time, she was drawn into political action and joined the 1971 demonstrations outside the White House in protest of the bombing of North Vietnam. Unsplash Career

Her first two books of poetry, ‘Multitudes, Multitudes’ (1974) and ‘The Isthmus’ (1981), both printed by small presses, attracted little attention. Unsplash Career

Her poetry is remembered for its use of elaborate syntax and vocabulary and metaphors. Her 1983 collection of poems, ‘The Kingfisher’, which was organized around the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, brought her instant critical acclaim. Unsplash Major Works

Her 1985 book of poetry, ‘What the Light Was Like’, is considered one of her seminal works. It was devoted to nature and confirmed her reputation as a gifted contemporary poet. Unsplash Major Works

Her 1987 poetry collection, ‘Archaic Figure’, drew upon her European travels and ancient Greek myths. The poetry collection was acclaimed for Amy’s narrative skills. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	June 15, 1920
Died on	September 10, 1994
Nationality	American
Famous	Writers, Poets
Spouses	Harold Korn
Universities	Grinnell College
Birth Place	New Providence, Iowa
Gender	Female
Sun Sign	Gemini
Born in	New Providence, Iowa
Famous as	Poet
Died at Age	74

Amy Clampitt

American

Jun 15, 1920

Biography

Personal Details

New Providence, Iowa