Father and Son

Stanley Kunitz was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. His father committed suicide shortly before the poet was born, and Kunitz left home at age fifteen. He graduated from Harvard College in 1926 and worked as a reporter and editor, earning his master’s degree and teaching at numerous universities on the East Coast. Kunitz published his first collection of poetry in 1930 and was a major influence on the writings of Robert Lowell, Allen Ginsberg, and Louise Glück. An outspoken advocate against censorship, Kunitz served as the consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress, and was named U.S. poet laureate in 2000.