James Schuyler

James Marcus Schuyler(November 9, 1923 – April 12, 1991) was an American poet. His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1980 collectionThe Morning of the Poem.He was a central figure in theNew York Schooland is often associated with fellow New York School poetsJohn Ashbery,Frank O'Hara,Kenneth Koch,andBarbara Guest.

James Schuyler

Life and death

James Marcus Schuyler was the son of Marcus Schuyler (a reporter) and Margaret Daisy Connor Schuyler.

Born inChicago,he spent his teen years inEast Aurora, New York.After graduating high school, Schuyler attendedBethany CollegeinWest Virginiafrom 1941 to 1943, though he was not a very successful student; in a later interview, he recalled, "I just played bridge all the time."

Schuyler moved toNew York Cityin the late 1940s where he worked forNBCand first befriendedW. H. Auden.In 1947, he moved toIschia,Italy,where he lived in Auden's rented apartment and worked as his secretary. Between 1947 and 1948, Schuyler attended theUniversity of Florence.

After returning to the United States and settling inNew York City,he roomed withJohn AshberyandFrank O'Hara.

In April 1991, at age sixty-seven, Schuyler died inManhattanfollowing astroke.His ashes were interred at the Little Portion Friary (Episcopal), Mt. Sinai, Long Island, New York.

Personal life

Schuyler was not known for revealing much about his personal life. It is known that he wasgay,and was partners withWilliam AaltoandJohn Button.Schuyler wasmanic depressive,underwent several years ofpsychoanalysisand withstood many traumatic experiences. One of these includes a "near death experience"in a fire which he caused by smoking in bed.

In a spring 1990 special issue of theDenver Quarterlythat was written byBarbara Guestin devotion to Schuyler's work, Guest refers to Schuyler as an "intimist," saying:

... for me Jimmy is theVuillardof us, he withholds his secret, the secret thing until the moment appears to reveal it. We wait and wait for the name of a flower while we praise the careful cultivation. We wait for someone to speak, and it is Jimmy in an aside.

Inspiration and style

Schuyler's move toItaly,as Auden's typist, was accompanied by his intention of writing. In 1981 he was said to have recalled "that he found Auden's elaborate formalism 'inhibiting'." This was likely an influence to his own "conversational style and proselike line".

While living inNew York,Schuyler found inspiration in the art world. From 1955 to 1961, he was a "curator of circulating exhibitions at theMuseum of Modern Art".He was also an editorial associate and critic forArt News.While working as an editorial associate, Schuyler wrote criticism about a large amount of art. In an interview that was published in spring 2002, he said, "I did learn an awful lot during those years, and then went on in the 60s writing occasional articles about specific artists and their specific strategies. Partly it was to make money, and partly because I wanted to write about painting, about art." His time as an art critic, then, became a major inspiration to his work.

From 1961 to 1973 Schuyler lived withFairfield Porterand his family in Southampton, Long Island. Porter became an influence for Schuyler as well, and he dedicated his first major collection,Freely Espousing,to Anne and Fairfield Porter.

Schuyler is noted for his ability to take things that are "normal" and bring out their greatness. He takes a look at things that many people may not see, or care to take note of, such as individual raindrops. He evaluates the ordinary and the way it works in relation to other things: "It's the water in the drinking glass the tulips are in./ It's a day like any other."

Schuyler was responsible for writingFrank O'Hara's elegy, "Buried at Springs". Schuyler recallsRalph Waldo Emerson'stranscendentalism,and uses nature to express himself in the elegy. Schuyler also has several works that are about, or that reference lists.

In hisDiary,Schuyler says that he is "more of a reader than a writer", and "everything happens as I write".

Awards

Schuyler received the 1981Pulitzer Prize for Poetryfor his 1980 collectionThe Morning of the Poem.He also coauthored a novel,A Nest of Ninnies,withJohn Ashberyin 1969. Schuyler also received the Longview Foundation Award in 1961, and the Frank O'Hara Prize forPoetryin 1969 forFreely Espousing.

Schuyler was aGuggenheim Fellow,a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Poets,and a 1985 recipient of theWhiting Award.

His poemThe Morning of the Poemis considered to be among the best long poems of thepostmodernera.

Published works

Numerous works by Schuyler, including books, plays, recordings, and other pieces have been published throughout the years. The following is a list of items that he authored.

Books

• Alfred and Guinevere(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958).
• Salute(New York: Tiber Press, 1960).
• May 24 or So(New York: Tibor de Nagy Editions, 1966).
• Freely Espousing(Garden City, N.Y.: Paris Review Editions/Doubleday, 1969; New York: SUN, 1979).
• A Nest of Ninnies,by Schuyler and John Ashbery (New York: Dutton, 1969; Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1987).
• The Crystal Lithium(New York: Random House, 1972).
• A Sun Cab(New York: Adventures in Poetry, 1972).
• Hymn to Life(New York: Random House, 1974).
• The Fireproof Floors of Witley Court; English Songs and Dances(Newark & West Burke, Vt.: Janus Press, 1976).
• Song(Syracuse, N.Y.: Kermani Press, 1976).
• The Home Book: Prose and Poems, 1951–1970,edited by Trevor Winkfield (Calais, Vt.: Z Press, 1977).
• What's For Dinner?(Santa Barbara, Cal.: Black Sparrow Press, 1978).
• The Morning of the Poem(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980).
• Collabs,by Schuyler and Helena Hughes (New York: Misty Terrace Press, 1980).
• Early in '71(Berkeley, Cal.: The Figures, 1982).
• A Few Days(New York: Random House, 1985).
• ForJoe Brainard(New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1988).
• Selected Poems(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988; Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1990).
• Collected Poems(New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993).
• Two Journals: James Schuyler, Darragh Park,by Schuyler andDarragh Park(New York: Tibor de Nagy, 1995).
• Diary of James Schuyler(Santa Rosa, Cal.: Black Sparrow Press, 1996).
• Last Poems(London: Slow Dancer Press, 1999).
• Just the Thing: Selected Letters of James Schuyler, 1951–1991,edited by William Corbett (New York: Turtle Point Press, 2004).
• The Letters of James Schuyler to Frank O'Hara,edited by William Corbett (New York: Turtle Point Press, 2006).
• Other Flowers: Uncollected Poems,edited by James Meetze and Simon Pettet (New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010).

Play productions

• Presenting Jane,Cambridge, Massachusetts, Poet's Theatre, 1952.
• Shopping and Waiting: A Dramatic Pause,New York, American Theatre for Poets, 1953.
• Unpacking the Black Trunk,by Schuyler andKenward Elmslie,New York, American Theatre for Poets, 1964.
• The Wednesday Club,by Schuyler and Elmslie, New York, American Theatre for Poets, 1964.

Recording

• Hymn to Life & Other Poems,Watershed Intermedia, 1989.

Other

• "Poet and Painter Overture", inThe New American Poetry,edited byDonald M. Allen(New York: Evergreen-Grove, 1960), pp. 418–419.
• Appearance and Reality: October Third to Thirty-first, 1960,introduction by Schuyler (New York: David Herbert Gallery, 1960).
• Robert Dash: November 11 – December 5, 1970,introduction by Schuyler (New York: Graham Gallery, 1970).
• Penguin Modern Poets 24,edited by John Ashbery (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1973) – includes poems by Schuyler.
• Broadway: A Poets and Painters Anthology,edited by Schuyler andCharles North(New York: Swollen Magpie Press, 1979).
• Broadway 2: A Poets and Painters Anthology,edited by Schuyler and North (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Hanging Loose Press, 1989).

Papers

The major collection of Schuyler's papers, covering the years from 1947 to 1991, is held in the Mandeville Department of Special Collections at theUniversity of California, San Diego.

External links

• Michael Hofmann on James Schuyler
• Essay: Mark Ford on James Schuyler
• James Schuyler Exhibitat TheAcademy of American Poets
• James Schuyler Author Homepageat theElectronic Poetry Center
• Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• You Could Call It Singing: James Schuyler’sOther Flowers(Essay)
• Review of Other Flower: Uncollected Poems by Michael KleinArchivedMarch 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine
• David Herd,Waiting for the mailboat (Letters of James Schuyler),The Guardian, 28 May 2005
• James Schuyler PapersMSS 0078.Special Collections & Archives,UC San Diego Library.