The Four Quartets Prize is an award of the Poetry Society of America, presented annually since 2018 in partnership with the T. S. Eliot Foundation. It is "first and foremost a celebration of the multi-part poem, which includes entire volumes composed of a unified sequence as well as novels in verse and book-length verse narratives."[1]
Background
editThe awards are named for T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, written over a four-year period. The award recognizes the 75th anniversary of Eliot's New York publisher first collecting them in a single volume in 1943.[2][3]
Eligibility
editThe prize is awarded for a unified and complete sequence of poems.[4] Examples of existing sequences that would fit the category:[1]
- Gwendolyn Brooks, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), or The Anniad (1950)
- John Berryman, 77 Dream Poems (1964), or His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968)
Winners receive a prize of $20,000; three finalists (including the eventual winner) receive $1,000 apiece.[5] The prize does not require that nominees have an existing body of work or reach a certain age.[2]
The Four Quartets Prize was first presented in 2018 to Danez Smith for their sonnet "summer, somewhere."
Four Quartets winners and finalists
editWinners are listed first, highlighted and with a double dagger.
| Year | Poet | Work |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ‡Dante Micheaux | The Circus |
| Catherine Barnett | "Accursed Questions" from Human Hours | |
| Meredith Stricker | anemochore | |
| 2018[2] | ‡Danez Smith | "summer, somewhere" from Don't Call Us Dead |
| Geoffrey G. O'Brien | "Experience in Groups" from Experience in Groups | |
| Kathleen Peirce | Vault: a poem |
References
edit- ^ a b "Four Quartets Prize - Poetry Society of America". www.poetrysociety.org. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
- ^ a b c Harriet Staff (April 16, 2018). "Danez Smith Wins Inaugural Four Quartets Prize". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
- ^ Kirk, Russell (2008). Eliot and His Age: T.S. Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century. ISI Books. p. 239. OCLC 80106144.
- ^ Hertzel, Laurie (April 13, 2018). "Minneapolis poet Danez Smith wins Four Quartets Prize". Star Tribune. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
- ^ "Inaugural Four Quartets Prize Finalists Announced - Poetry Society of America". www.poetrysociety.org. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
External links
edit- The Four Quartets Prize at the Poetry Society of America official website