Louis O. Coxe
Louis O. Coxe | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 15, 1918 |
| Died | May 25, 1993 (age 75) Augusta, Maine, U.S. |
| Education | St. Paul's School Princeton University |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | Edith Winsor |
Louis Osborne Coxe (April 15, 1918 – May 25, 1993) was an American poet, playwright, essayist, and professor who was recognized by the Academy of American Poets for his "long, powerful, quiet accomplishment, largely unrecognized, in lyric poetry." He was probably best known for his dramatic adaptation of Herman Melville's Billy Budd, which opened on Broadway in 1951.
Early life and education
Born in
St. Paul's School. He graduated from Princeton University in 1940, writing his senior thesis on Edwin Arlington Robinson
.
Career
During
University of Aix-Marseilles, France) as head of the English department until his death in 1993 after 11 years suffering from Alzheimer's disease
.
Recognition
Coxe received his largest critical recognition for his dramatic adaptation, with
Chaucer and Edwin Arlington Robinson
.
But Coxe's main focus was his poetry, which U.S. Poet Laureate
Atlantic Monthly. In 1972 the Maine State Commission on the Arts and Humanities presented him with a Maine State Award for his significant contributions to the cultural life of Maine. He was named the 36th fellow of the Academy of American Poets in 1977[1] and was awarded a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
that same year. One of the last poems he published, "Nightsong" (1983), was featured in the anthology Fifty Years of American Poetry.
Bibliography
Poetry
- The Sea Faring and Other Poems (1947)
- The Second Man and Other Poems (1955)
- The Wilderness and Other Poems (1958)[2]
- The Middle Passage (1960)
- The Last Hero and Other Poems (1965)
- Nikal Seyn & Decoration Day: A Poem and a Play (1966)
- Passage: Selected Poems 1943–1978 (1979)
- The North Well (1985)
Plays
- Billy Budd (1949)
- Nikal Seyn & Decoration Day: A Poem and a Play (1966)
- Birth of a State
Criticism
- Chaucer, part of the Laurel Poetry Series (editor, along with introduction and notes) (1963)
- Edwin Arlington Robinson; The Life of Poetry (1969)
- Enabling Acts: Selected Essays in Criticism (1976)
Awards
- Donaldson Awards Best Play, 1951
- Outer Critics Circle AwardBest Play, 1951
- Maine State Award, 1972
- National Endowment for the Arts creative writing grant, 1977
- Academy of American Poets Fellowship, 1977
References
- ^ "Notes on People". The New York Times. December 1, 1977. p. 63. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4529-1278-3.
