Archibald MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet, writer, and Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the modernist school of poetry.

Literary work

MacLeish greatly admired T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and his work shows quite a bit of their influence. In fact, some critics charge that his poetry is derivative, and adds little of MacLeish's own voice.

Related Topics:
T. S. Eliot - Ezra Pound

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MacLeish's early work was very traditionally modernist, and accepted the contemporary modernist position holding that a poet was isolated from society. His most well-known poem, Ars Poetica, contains the line "A poem should not mean / but be.", a classic statement of the modernist aesthetic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He later broke with this position. MacLeish himself was greatly involved in public life, and came to believe that this was not only an appropriate but an inevitable role for a poet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~