Main content
Daniel Hoffman collection of poetry imprints, plays, and writings
Notifications
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Daniel Hoffman (1923-2013) was an American poet and essayist. He received his B.A. (1947), M.A. (1949), and Ph.D. (1956) from Columbia University. He taught at Columbia as well as Swarthmore College prior to beginning his career at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966. From 1973 to 1974, he was named Poet Laureate of the United States. His poems vary greatly in structure, ranging from sonnets to an epic poem about the founding of Pennsylvania; but he is best known for his work, "Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe" (1972), which his New York Times obituary describes as "an unusual study melding biography, criticism and bits of his own autobiography in a highly personal analysis of the American writer whose literary reputation is wildly diffuse." Hoffman lived primarily in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania with his wife, poet and esteemedLadies' Home Journal editor, Elizabeth McFarland. Hoffman and McFarland spent their summers in Cape Rosier, Maine, which Hoffman used as a setting for many of his poems.
This collection includes books, chaplets, published lectures, journal issues, and exhibition catalogues from the personal library of Daniel Hoffman. Series I: Books contains mostly small press poetry collections, some of which feature Hoffman as a translator, others of which include a preface by Hoffman. In addition to these collections, there are also anthologies of poetry and prose, some of which include Hoffman's work. Series II: Chaplets contains broadsides from the Backwoods Broadsides Series that include many notable poets, including Anne Waldman and Diane di Prima. Series III: Published Lectures includes transcripts of lectures given at the Library of Congress, and provides an interesting if selective overview of the critical reception for prose and poetry in the latter half of the twentieth century. Series IV: Journal Issues contains single issues of contemporary literary journals, none of which include work by Hoffman. Series V: Exhibition Catalogs contains catalogs from university library exhibitions concerning twentieth century authors, including Ezra Pound and John Steinbeck. More information can be found at the series level.
Gifts of Daniel Hoffman, 2005 and 2009.
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Sam Allingham
- Finding Aid Date
- 2018 June 1
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.