A.R. Ammons (1926-2001) created a philosophy of nature and poetics in his poetry. His most recursive leitmotifs are motion, wind, whirlwind, and light. He conceived of earth, mind and poem as inseparable from each other and spherical (Ammons, “Figuring”). In his poem “Interval” Ammons writes: “So all is a circle/and nothing is separable” (36). Harold Bloom called Ammons a descendant of Emerson and Whitman in the American Romantic tradition.
Ammons was born on a tobacco farm near Whiteville, N.C., in 1926. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. He wrote his first poems aboard a U. S. Navy destroyer escort in the South Pacific. Later he graduated in biology from Wake Forest College in North Carolina and received his master’s degree in English from the University of
1702 words
Citation: Chrusciel, Ewa. "A. R. Ammons". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 May 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=103, accessed 21 November 2024.]
