Richard Eberhart

Richard Eberhart served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1959 to 1961. His poetry has been set to music by Samuel Adler, Ned Rorem, Elie Siegmeister, and several other American composers.

Photo: Richard Eberhart, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

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About

Born in Austin, Minnesota, Richard Eberhart studied at Dartmouth College and taught there for many years afterward.

The tragedies of his childhood, which included the death of his mother when Eberhart was 18, as well as his experiences during the Great Depression and as an aerial gunnery instructor during World War II had a noticeable influence on his poetry. His poetry addresses romantic sentiments of an earlier century in a modernist fashion.

Eberhart received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1966 for his volume Selected Poems 1930-1965 and the National Book Award in 1977 for his volume Collected Poems 1930-1976.

–Christie Finn
Source: Poetry Foundation Website

Related Information

Songs

Sheet Music

Aftermath

Composer(s): Ned Rorem

Song(s): 1. The Drum
2. Tygers of Wrath
3. The Fury of the Aerial Bombardment
4. The Park
5. Sonnet LXIV
6. On his Seventy-Fifth Birthday
7. Grief
8. Remorse for Any Death
9. Losses
10. Then

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