William Meredith died yesterday

William Meredith died yesterday in New London, Connecticut. He was a poet, a pilot of a fighter jet in WW II, a friend to many, many people. And a teacher. He had a truly generous spirit and a gift of quiet, penetrating insight into people. He was a much lauded poet (the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in the US), and he had known many of the most influential figures of the the second half of the twentieth c. in American poetry Frost, Bishop, Berryman, Lowell, Auden, Jarrell, Rukeyser among them. His poems were reticent, quietly funny and full of a wise warmth and understanding for the human condition. A few favourite Meredith poems: "A Major Work", "Crossing Over" and "Hazard Faces a Sunday in the Decline". His critical writings, a selection of which is published in "Poems Are Hard To Read" (Michigan Press), are wonderful.

It had been many years since we'd seen each other. Then, he appeared a few miles up the road last summer in Sligo. He was doing a small tour of Ireland with some readings along the way. The photo is from our last visit together at the home of novelist Jack Harte. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. Deep sympathies to his beloved and devoted partner Richard Harteis and to all his family and friends. Funeral is June 6th in New London and there will be a celebration of his life later on in the year at Connecticut College. Click here to listen to an interview about Meredith with Michael Collier, who was also a student of his and who now directs the Breadloaf Writers' Conference in Vermont. It's on National Public Radio in the U.S. and Collier reads "A Major Work" and "Parents".