Louis Untermeyer’s Followers (29)

Louis Untermeyer

Born

in New York City, The United States

October 01, 1885

Died

December 18, 1977

Genre

Poetry

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Louis Untermeyer was the author, editor or compiler, and translator of more than one hundred books for readers of all ages. He will be best remembered as the prolific anthologist whose collections have introduced students to contemporary American poetry since 1919. The son of an established New York jeweler, Untermeyer's interest in poetry led to friendships with poets from three generations, including many of the century's major writers. His tastes were eclectic. Martin Weil related in the Washington Post that Untermeyer once "described himself as 'a bone collector' with 'the mind of a magpie.'" He was a liberal who did much to allay the Victorian myth that poetry is a high-brow art. "What most of us don't realize is that everyone loves po Louis Untermeyer was the author, editor or compiler, and translator of more than one hundred books for readers of all ages. He will be best remembered as the prolific anthologist whose collections have introduced students to contemporary American poetry since 1919. The son of an established New York jeweler, Untermeyer's interest in poetry led to friendships with poets from three generations, including many of the century's major writers. His tastes were eclectic. Martin Weil related in the Washington Post that Untermeyer once "described himself as 'a bone collector' with 'the mind of a magpie.'" He was a liberal who did much to allay the Victorian myth that poetry is a high-brow art. "What most of us don't realize is that everyone loves poetry," he was quoted by Weil as saying, pointing out the rhymes on the once-ubiquitous Burma Shave road signs as an example.

Untermeyer developed his taste for literature while still a child. His mother had read aloud to him from a variety of sources, including the epic poems "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Hiawatha." Bedtime stories he told to his brother Martin combined elements from every story he could remember, he revealed in Bygones: The Recollections of Louis Untermeyer. When he learned to read for himself, he was particularly impressed by books such as Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Dante's Inferno. Gustave Dore's illustrations in these books captivated him and encouraged his imagination toward fantasy. Almost fifty years later, Untermeyer published several volumes of retold French fairy tales, all illustrated by the famous French artist.

In addition to children's books and anthologies, Untermeyer published collections of his own poetry. He began to compose light verse and parodies during his teen years after dropping out of school to join his father's business. With financial help from his father, he published First Love in 1911. Sentiments of social protest expressed in the 1914 volume Challenge received disapproval from anti-communist groups forty years later; as a result of suspicion, Untermeyer lost his seat on the "What's My Line" game show panel to publisher Bennett Cerf. During the 1970s, he found himself "instinctively, if incongruously, allied with the protesting young," he wrote in the New York Times. In the same article he encouraged the spirit of experiment that characterized the decade, saying, "it is the non-conformers, the innovators in art, science, technology, and human relations who, misunderstood and ridiculed in their own times, have shaped our world." Untermeyer, who did not promote any particular ideology, remained a popular speaker and lecturer, sharing criticism of poetry and anecdotes about famous poets with audiences in the United States and as far away as India and Japan.

Untermeyer resigned from the jewelry business in 1923 in order to give all his attention to literary pursuits. Friendships with Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Arthur Miller, and other literary figures provided him with material for books. For example, The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer contains letters selected from almost fifty years of correspondence with the New England poet. The anthologist's autobiographies From Another World and Bygones relate as much about other writers as they do about his personal life. Bygones provides his reflections on the four women who were his wives. Jean Starr moved to Vienna with Untermeyer after he became a full-time writer; Virginia Moore was his wife for about a year; Esther Antin, a lawyer he met in Toledo, Ohio, married him in 1933; fifteen years later, he married Bryna Ivens, with whom he edited a dozen books for children.

In his later years, Untermeyer, like Frost, had a deep appreciation for country life. He once told Contemporary Authors: "I live on an abandoned farm in Connecticut ... ever since I found my native New York unlivable as well as unlovable.... On these green and sometimes arctic acres I cultivate wha ...more

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Louis Untermeyer’s books

Average rating: 4.23 · 6,113 ratings · 498 reviews · 302 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Golden Treasury of Poetry by Louis Untermeyer (Editor), Joan Walsh Anglund (Illustrator) 4.60 avg rating — 212 ratings — published 1959 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Treasury of Great Poems: An Inspiring Collection of the Best-Loved, Most Moving Verse in the English Language 4.33 avg rating — 97 ratings — published 1955 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Modern British Poetry 3.96 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 1925 — 99 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dog of Pompeii 4.30 avg rating — 70 ratings — published 1932	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Golden Books Family Treasury of Poetry by Louis Untermeyer, Joan Walsh Anglund (Illustrator) 4.63 avg rating — 60 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Concise Treasury of Great Poems 4.18 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 1960 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Modern American Poetry and Modern British Poetry 4.51 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1919 — 46 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Treasury Of Favorite Poems 3.91 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 1996 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tales from the Ballet by Louis Untermeyer (Editor), Martin Provensen (Illustrator), Alice Provensen (Illustrator) 4.46 avg rating — 26 ratings — published 1969 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Modern American Poetry by Louis Untermeyer (Editor), Bryna Ivens Untermeyer (Editor) 4.22 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 1919 — 136 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Louis Untermeyer (?)

“Write out of love, write out of instinct, write out of reason. But always for money.”
― Louis Untermeyer

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“HERE in this moonlit room, I watch you slip One shoulder from your dress and turn to me;
A polished statue, fushing to the tip Of marble fingers gradually.”
― Louis Untermeyer, New Enlarged Anthology of Robert Frost's Poems

tags: erotic-poetry

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“Your ivory body pulses as the white
Flesh catches flame and rosy tremblings move
Over this sanctuary of delight, The last asylum of our love.”
― Louis Untermeyer, New Enlarged Anthology of Robert Frost's Poems

tags: erotic-poetry

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