Call Number:

C0175

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 5 boxes
• 2.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Selected Papers of William Meredith, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1937-1967 (inclusive)

Creator:

Meredith, William, 1919-2007

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century

Abstract:

Consists, for the most part, of letters to American poet William Meredith (Princeton Class of 1940) from American authors, most of whom have been associated with Princeton.

A member of the Princeton Class of 1940, William Meredith worked for the New York Times before joining the U.S. Army Air Force in 1941. Meredith later transferred to the Navy, serving as a pilot during World War II. During the war, Meredith's first collection of poems, Love Letter from an Impossible Land (1944) was published. After World War II, Meredith taught English at Princeton University and the University of Hawaii before returning to the Navy for service during the Korean War. Following the war, Meredith continued to teach and write, eventually joining the faculty of Connecticut College, where he taught from 1955 to 1983. In 1964, Meredith was elected a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets and from 1978-1980, Meredith served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Additionally, Meredith was recognized with the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work, Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems (1987), and the National Book Award for Efforts at Speech (1997). Meredith's friend, Robert Drew, was an artist.

The collection consists, for the most part, of letters to Meredith (Princeton Class of 1940) from American authors, most of whom have been associated with Princeton University. Correspondents include Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, Donald Alfred Stauffer, Christian Gauss, Willard Thorp, and Richard P. Blackmur. Also included are typed manuscripts of Richard P. Blackmur's poem "All's the Foul Fiend's" and Willard Thorp's review of works by Robert Penn Warren and Meredith. Autograph manuscripts of verse are a part of Donald Stauffer's letters, and many of his letters are written on the backs of discarded manuscripts and galley proofs.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ALS = autograph letter signed, AMs = autograph manuscript, TMs = Typewritten Manuscript.