A few weeks ago I wrote about Stanley Kunitz, the celebrated poet (former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner), born in 1905, and I posted two of his poems written for his wife. Over the past year, at 100 years old, Kunitz has been relatively healthy and chipper, but he began to decline recently, and last week he passed away in his home while sleeping. He would have turned 101 in July.
His last book, The Wild Braid, a compilation of poems, prose meditations, and musings on gardening, mortality, and poetry, reveals a profound vision of modesty. Kunitz had an uncanny ability to see beyond the spiritual emptiness of fame, attention, and external accolades, and he embraced the essence of what is most important. He wrote,
When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you have to think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgement of the gift you have been given, which is the life itself. And I think the world tends to forget that this is the ultimate significance of the body of work each artist produces. It is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life.
--Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006) from The Wild Braid, (W.W. Norton, 2005)
Eve, Thank you for letting us know of Stanley Kunitz's death. I have requested his book of poems "The Wild Braid" from the library. My husband and I really enjoyed the poems you posted earlier that were for his wife. Beautiful.
Posted by: Alexandra Foley | May 22, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Can you link to the other poems. I would really like to read them. Thanks.
Posted by: Annie | May 23, 2006 at 09:10 AM
Dear Annie,
If you click on my name on the right and scroll down to "To Look Through and See the World" you'll see the two poems ("The Quarrel" and "Touch Me") I posted. For more poems by Kunitz go to www.poets.org and type in his name. You can even listen to a recording of him reading several of his poems on that site. And you'll find interviews with him, essays, and more.
Enjoy!
Eve
Posted by: Eve | May 23, 2006 at 01:14 PM
Eve,
I'm deeply moved by Kunitz' words...maybe I will get my hands on The Wild Braid too. Thank you for this reflection!
Posted by: Erin P | May 24, 2006 at 10:45 PM
Eve, Thanks for sharing this. I have forwarded this quote on to others who have valued the insights too. His remarks are so wonderfully stated. Thanks-- Jeannine
Posted by: Jeannine | May 30, 2006 at 02:56 PM