May Sarton

New New books on writing poetry. Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry.

How to write specific forms:
Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.
Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát.
Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Adam Zagajewski. Aleda Shirley. Anne Carson.
The Beowulf Poet. Billy Collins. Billy Collins exercise.
Snorri's Edda. Carl Dennis. Charles Atkinson. Chase Twichell. Corey Marks.
François Villon Franz Wright. Galway Kinnell. Gary Young. The Gawain Poet.
Jack Gilbert. James Tate. Jane Hirshfield. Jean Vengua. Jorie Graham.
J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Karen Braucher. Karl Shapiro. Kay Ryan.
Laureate Poets: Britain; USA.
Len Anderson. Les Murray. Li-Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Louise Glück.
Margaret Atwood. Mary Oliver. May Sarton. Nordic Skalds. Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A). Richard Hugo. Robert Bly.
Sappho. Sara Teasdale. Shiki (haiku). Snorri's Edda. Stephen Dunn.
Ted Kooser. W.S. Merwin.

May Sarton
Prose. Themes. Time Line. Books.

Themes of her Writing

Themes include:

The female role: the role in society of a female artist.
The Muse: The muse's role in poetic creativity.
Sacrament: Making a sacrament of the ordinary and everyday (flowers, animals, sunlight, friends, and so on) much as does a haiku poet.
Solitude: its value.
Truth: a search for deep and universal truth.

Prose

Writing on Writing (1980)

Five essays:

The School of Babylon.
The Design of a Novel.
The Writing of a Poem.
Revision as Creation.
On Growth and Change.

Time Line

While her poetry books are listed, only a subset is included of her over-fifty books, which included 17 collections of poetry, 19 novels, 11 journals, two children's books, and essays.

1912.: Born (3 May) in Wondelgem, Belgium.
1914.: Arrived in USA with parents fleeing a German invasion.
1930.: Poetry magazine published her series of sonnets (some to be included in Encounter (1937), her first published book).
1937.: Encounter (her first book of poems and first published book).
1938.: The Single Hound (her first novel) published.
1939.: Inner Landscape (her second book of poems).
1946.: The Bridge of Years (novel) published.
1948.: The Lion and the Rose (her 2nd book of poems).
1950.: Shadow of a Man (her 3rd novel) published.
1952.: Shower of Summer Days (her 4th novel) published.
1954: Wrote I Knew a Phoenix, (memoir).
1955.: Faithful Are the Wounds (novel) published.
1958.: Nomination for a National Book Award for In Time Like Air (poetry) and Faithful Are the Wounds (novel).
1961.: Cloud, Stone, Sun, Vine (poetry).
1966.: A Private Mythology (poetry).
1967.: As Does New Hampshire (poetry).
1968.: Plant Dreaming Deep, particularly well received of her many memoirs.
1971: A Grain of Mustard Seed (poetry).
1973.: Journal of a Solitude, memoir.
1974.: Collected Poems 1930-1973.
1978.: Selected Poems of May Sarton.
1980: Halfway to Silence (poetry).
1981: Writings on Writing (selected essays).
1984: Letters From Maine (poetry).
1994: Coming Into Eighty (poetry), for which she received Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize for Poetry.
1995: Died.

Books

Links and Books.

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