Richard Wilbur

Isabella Wai (University of Toronto)

Ed. by Nick Selby, 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 21 Mar 1921
Died 14 Oct 2017
Activity 1945-2017

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Children's/Young Adult writer
Essayist
Literary Critic/ Historian
Poet
Scholar
Teacher/ Professor
Translator

Resources

Wilbur's Works

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Richard Wilbur dedicates the new poems in his 2004 collection to his wife, Charlee, “in this and the other kingdom”. The phrase, which comes from his delightful poem “Complaint” (

Walking in to Sleep

1969), does not seem to mean exclusively an afterlife. It reflects his life-long dedication to the time-bound world and interest in its other—infinity. It is attainable on earth, as explicitly stated in the title of his poem “Attention Makes Infinity” (

The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems

, 1947). The “other kingdom” can also be a glimpse of divinity or a mysterious dimension, which humanity co-opts from dreams. It may allude to other poetic consciousnesses (for example, Edgar Allan Poe, with whom Wilbur has an affinity and a quarrel on the far-flung Beyond, W.H. Auden,…

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5531 words

Citation: Wai, Isabella. "Richard Wilbur". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2009; last revised 05 September 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4715, accessed 03 December 2024.]

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