Helen Vendler (1933-2024)

[tiganeasca]

The title for the New York Times obit pretty much says it all: "'Colossus' of Poetry Criticism." A somewhat more interesting piece (without a paywall) can be found in an article in "The Harvard Gazette" which wrote, last year, about her being honored for a lifetime of achievement.

 

[Benny Profane]

Another prominent female critic on Poetry has gone...

Marjorie Perloff who researched Modern Poetry also passed away last month.

 

[Liam]

Oh no! I absolutely adored her!!

It was my honor and my privilege to take two classes with her as a grad student right before she retired. Both seminars were unforgettable. Despite her fierce reputation she was the kindest, gentlest, most attentive teacher and absolutely loved her students.

This is extremely sad news to me.

 

[Mise Eire]

Close friend of Seamus Heaney - besides being colleagues at Harvard, she was one of the 2 guests, besides family, he was permitted to invite to the 1995 Stockholm ceremony. I'm sure she was a strong advocate in his being chosen as a Laureate.

 

[Liam]

^She adored Heaney! I definitely remember that from the seminar,

Harvard has a Seamus Heaney room at Adams House, where he used to stay whenever he came to Cambridge.

As a point of curiosity, Helen Vendler's favorite poem by Heaney was "Digging", and she taught it often.