[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO POET LAUREATE STANLEY KUNITZ

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                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 13, 2001

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise today 
to pay special tribute to Stanley Kunitz, who was born in my hometown 
in Worcester, Massachusetts. Stanley Kunitz is an outstanding poet who 
began his career in 1930 when he wrote his first book of poems titled 
``Intellectual Things''. Prior to this book, Stanley Kunitz studied at 
Harvard College where he received his BA in 1926 and his MA in 1927. It 
was after his years of study that he began writing his first book of 
poems. Unfortunately his first book was barely recognized and he did 
not publish his second book, ``Passport to War'', for another fourteen 
years. The Second World War interrupted his career, and after returning 
from the war he joined the faculty of Bennington College. Although 
Stanley Kunitz was years removed from poetry he persevered to 
eventually win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 for his first 
``Selected Poems''.
  For a writer whose working life spans thirteen Presidents, Kunitz's 
commitment is all the more amazing. Stanley Kunitz is realistic and 
simple, the furthest from extravagant, which at the time when he wrote 
was rare. This is evident in his opposition to the long epic poem, 
which was popular in American Poetry during the first half of the 
twentieth century. What Kunitz's work lacks in glamour it compensates 
for in serious and influential purpose.
  The popularity of Stanley Kunitz's work is evident in his many awards 
and accomplishments. In addition to his Pulitzer Prize he received the 
Bollingen Prize, a Ford Foundation grant, the Levinson Prize, and the 
Shelley Memorial Award to name a few. In 2000 he was named United 
States Poet Laureate. Stanley Kunitz is the founder of the Fine Arts 
Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Poets House in New York City. 
Stanley Kunitz has also worked as a translator, creating English 
versions of Russian Poems.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring Mr. Kunitz for his enthusiasm 
and commitment to his poetry and society. He truly exemplifies that 
ability is never ending.

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