Sharon Olds

John Parras (William Paterson University)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 19 Nov 1942
Activity 1962-ongoing

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Poet
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Olds' Works

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Sharon Olds is a highly regarded American poet renowned for the emotional potency, stark realism and stylistic accessibility of her writing, which owes much to the school of American “confessional” poetry. Born in 1942 in San Francisco, Olds received a B.A. (1964) from Stanford University and a Ph.D. (1972) from Columbia University. The winner of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, Olds served as the New York State Poet from 1998-2000 and currently directs the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

Stylistically, Olds’ poetry emphasizes the use of colloquial run-ons, exquisite rhythms accentuated by enjambment, concrete imagery and stunning figurative comparisons.

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1483 words

Citation: Parras, John. "Sharon Olds". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3410, accessed 22 November 2024.]