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| Poetry in Georgia |
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April is National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate and appreciate the art of poetry. Georgia's poets, from nineteenth-century
scribes Thomas Holley Chivers and Sidney Lanier to Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey, have contributed to a long and vibrant tradition in the state. While many of these poets, both natives and transplants,
explore themes and experiences specific to Georgia and the South, others, particularly in more recent decades, engage in a
wider discourse and help to illuminate Georgia's place in a larger context.
As literary historian Hugh Ruppersburg points out in his introduction to Georgia Voices: Poetry, "Poetry in contemporary Georgia continues to reflect the place and times of its origins." But he goes on to say, "At the
same time, the boundaries of the world that Georgia poets write about stretch far beyond the borders of the state." Conrad Aiken and James Dickey, widely considered the foremost Georgia poets of the twentieth century, exemplify these dual roles of contemporary poetry.
Aiken, born in Savannah in 1889, left the state as a child after the traumatic deaths of his parents, and spent much of his life in the Northeast
and abroad. He returned to Savannah for the last decade of his life, however, and in 1973 was appointed the state's poet laureate.
His work deals primarily with psychological themes and problems in the modern world. James Dickey, born and raised in Atlanta in 1923, spent most of his life in the South and set much of his work there. His poems, written primarily in the confessional
vein, wrestle, like Aiken's, with issues of modernity.
Georgia's twenty-first-century poets continue this rich literary heritage, writing with an acute awareness of the state's
history and landscape, while also exploring themes that transcend geographical borders. Bettie Sellers, state poet laureate from 1997 to 2000 and a lifelong resident of Georgia, focuses much of her work on the landscape and
culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains; she follows in the literary footsteps of Byron Herbert Reece, whose twentieth-century poems draw on imagery from his native Union County to explore nature, death, love, and religion. David Bottoms, who succeeded Sellers as state poet laureate in 2000 and claims James Dickey as a major influence, found literary fame in
1980 with a collection of poems entitled Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump; his poems delve into questions of religion and mortality, nature and violence.
Others draw on influences from beyond Georgia. Coleman Barks, a native of Tennessee and longtime Georgia resident, is best known for his translations of Near Eastern poets, especially
Jalal al-Din Rumi, and often brings the mysticism of these works to bear in his own poems. Natasha Trethewey, another longtime
resident of Georgia, won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection Native Guard (2006), which examines gaps and intersections in the public history of her native Mississippi and in the private narrative
of her biracial family. Judith Ortiz Cofer, a native of Puerto Rico who has spent much of her life in Georgia, writes poems that illuminate, often in both Spanish and
English, her immigrant experience.
We invite you to explore our articles on these and the many other poets who have advanced the art of poetry in Georgia and
beyond. And don't miss the audio and video clips available for many of the poets, which appear in the right-hand column of
the articles.
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Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)
Over a period of nearly fifty years Conrad Aiken published poems, essays, short stories, novels, and...
Adrienne Bond (1933-1996)
Adrienne Moore Bond, poet, fiction writer, scholar, and mentor to other writers, was a native of Macon...
Edgar Bowers (1924-2000)
When Edgar Bowers published his Collected Poems in 1997, literary critic Harold Bloom called him "one of...
Kathryn Stripling Byer (b. 1944)
Poet and essayist Kathryn Stripling Byer is a native of Georgia but has set most of her poems in the...
Thomas Holley Chivers (1809-1858)
Thomas Holley Chivers, poet and physician, published eleven volumes of poetry, plays, and pamphlets....
Stephen Corey (b. 1948)
Poet, essayist, and editor Stephen Corey has lived and worked in Athens since 1983. As assistant, associate,...
Rosemary Daniell (b. 1935)
A writer and a teacher of writing, Rosemary Daniell is known for her provocative poems and memoirs. Her...
Walter Griffin (b. 1937)
Poet, teacher, and founder of the Atlanta Poets Workshop, Walter Griffin has spent his career identifying...
Ha Jin (b. 1956)
Ha Jin is a widely acclaimed author of novels, short stories, and poetry. He launched his writing career...
Greg Johnson (b. 1953)
An award-winning short-story writer, novelist, poet, biographer, and scholar, Greg Johnson is a professor...
Frances Mayes (b. ca. 1940)
Frances Mayes has achieved wide recognition for two best-selling books about her life and her second...
Marion Montgomery (b. 1925)
Poet, novelist, intellectual, and literary critic, Marion Hoyt Montgomery taught composition, literature,...
Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958)
Byron Herbert Reece was the author of four books of poetry and two novels. During his short career he...
Bettie Sellers (b. 1926)
Bettie Sellers lives and writes poetry in Young Harris, a small college town in the mountains of north...
John Stone (1936-2008)
A poet, essayist, cardiologist, and lecturer, John Stone also served during his varied career as professor...
Natasha Trethewey (b. 1966)
Natasha Trethewey, an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta, won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry...
Don West (1906-1992)
A native of north Georgia, Don West achieved success as one of the foremost southern regional poets of...
Georgia Poetry Society
The Georgia State Poetry Society was founded by Edward Davin Vickers and Charles J. Bruehler on August...
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Coleman Barks (b. 1937)
Coleman Barks, a poet and professor emeritus at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, has gained...
David Bottoms (b. 1949)
When David Bottoms was twenty-nine, his first book, Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump, was chosen...
Van K. Brock (b. 1932)
As a poet who craved a connection with language from an early age, Van K. Brock began to contemplate...
Turner Cassity (1929-2009)
Poet, playwright, and short-story writer Turner Cassity earned fame for his prolific publication of formal...
Judith Ortiz Cofer (b. 1952)
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a longtime resident of Georgia, is one of a number of Latina writers who rose to...
Alfred Corn (b. 1943)
Since the appearance of his first book of poems in 1976, Alfred Corn has distinguished himself as one...
James Dickey (1923-1997)
James Dickey ranks, along with Conrad Aiken, as one of the two most important Georgia poets in the twentieth...
Anthony Grooms (b. 1955)
Anthony "Tony" M. Grooms is a writer and arts administrator who is well known in the Atlanta area for...
Georgia Douglas Johnson (ca. 1877-1966)
Georgia Douglas Johnson was an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance, the literary and cultural...
Sidney Lanier (1842-1881)
Sidney Lanier contributed significantly to the arts in nineteenth-century America. His accomplishments...
Judson Mitcham (b. 1948)
Examining basic human themes within the specific landscape of Georgia, Judson Mitcham's writing is both...
Wyatt Prunty (b. 1947)
Wyatt Prunty is identified with a widely based movement among poets sometimes called the New Formalism....
Larry Rubin (b. 1930)
Larry Jerome Rubin has published hundreds of poems in literary magazines and four volumes of selected...
Charlie Smith (b. 1947)
A Georgia-born poet, novelist, and short-story writer, Charlie Smith is a frequent contributor to national...
Francis Orray Ticknor (1822-1874)
Physician, poet, and horticulturist, Francis Orray Ticknor wrote memorable Civil War (1861-65) poetry...
Alice Walker (b. 1944)
Alice Walker is an African American novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist, and activist. Her most...
Philip Lee Williams (b. 1950)
Philip Lee Williams is an award-winning and prolific writer who has spent his entire life in Georgia....
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