Sydney Lea
BornDecember 22, 1942
Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, USA
Occupationpoet, writer, editor, academic
EducationYale University
SubjectNew England
Notable worksPursuit of a Wound
To the Bone: New and Selected Poems
Notable awardsGovernor's Award for Excellence in the Arts

Poet Laureate of Vermont

Poets' Prize
Website
sydneylea.net

Sydney Lea (born December 22, 1942) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, editor, and professor.[1][2] He was the founding editor of the New England Review and was the Poet Laureate of Vermont from 2011 to 2015.[1][3][4] Lea's writings focus the outdoors, woods, and rural life New England and "the mysteries and teachings of the natural world."[5][2]

Early life

Sydney Lea was born in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania.[2] Growing up, his father had a camp in Washington County, Maine.[6]

Lea attended Yale University, graduating with a B.A. in 1964.[7][8] While there, he was a member of the social and literary fraternity, St. Anthony Hall.[8] Later, he received a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Yale.[2] Robert Penn Warren was his mentor.[9]

Career

Lea taught at Dartmouth College from 1969 to 1976.[4][10] He then taught at Middlebury College from 1976 to 1989 and at Yale University in 1979.[4][10] He was a professor in the MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts from 1989 to 2002.[10][4] However, during that time, he also taught at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary while on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1992, at Wesleyan University in 1997, and at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland in 2001.[4][10] He returned to Dartmouth from 1999 to 2002, becoming a professor in its graduate program in liberal studies from 2003 to 2011.[4][10]

In 1977, Lea co-founded the New England Review with Jay Parini in and edited it until 1989.[4][2] His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review, The New Republic, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and Virginia Quarterly Review.[11][12][13][4][14][15]

In 1987, Lea received a Guggenheim Fellowship for poetry.[16] In 1996, his poetry collection To the Bone: New and Selected Poems was co-winner of the Poets' Prize.[9] His collection of poetry Pursuit of the Wound, published in 2000, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.[9]

Lea became Poet Laureate of Vermont in 2011.[7] The Advisory Committee who recommended him for the four-year position found "Lea's poetry to be virtuosic in texture and form, yet likely to be engaging to a diversity of readers and listeners because of the work's dramatic intensity, narrative momentum, and musicality, and because of this poet's extraordinarily evocative descriptions of northern New England's landscapes, animal and plant life, and the seasonal panorama."[7] The committee also said, "Through all of his books, Lea has paid particular attention to the stories of generations living alongside one another in north-country villages, including the interactions of 'old-timers' and relative newcomers. He continues the tradition of Vermont poets who are both singular—one of a kind—and broadly accessible."[7]

In a review of his 2013 poetry collection, I Was Thinking of Beauty, Jacqueline Kolosov notes, "For Lea, the moral and aesthetic cannot be separated. Though he is honest about his flaws and shortcomings in his poetry—one reason he quickly wins and sustains his readers' trust—his poems strive to teach us how to live while making us laugh at our need to take ourselves so seriously."[5]

His work across the genres has appeared in some sixty anthologies.[4] the composer Joseph Hallman turned Lea's poem "Mudtime" into a long-form song cycle for voice and string quartet.[3][17] Lea described as "a high point of my term as poet laureate. It was so refreshing and so different, a great shot in the arm."[3] It premiered in 2014 by Hallman's long term collaborator, Abigail Haynes-Lennox and the 802 Quartet at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.[3] Lea has since collaborated with the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble on a number of multimedia presentations.[18]

Lea's thirteenth collection of poetry, Here, was published by Four Way Books in 2019.[19] In a review of Here, Publishers Weekly writes, "Lea weaves a graceful tapestry of personal history while expressing his trademark wonder at the natural world in his quietly powerful 13th collection. His memories are not grand in scale; he recalls watching his daughter spill a glass of milk on a train, teaching his son to ride a bike, and schoolboy shenanigans such as a “slew of idiot tricks” pulled on a Latin instructor—yet these scenes become significant through Lea’s telling."[19]

His 2020 book, The Exquisite Triumph of Wormboy, is a graphic mock-epic poem in collaboration with former Vermont Cartoonist Laureate James Kochalka.[4] Released in 2021, Seen From All Sides is a collection of newspaper essays Lea wrote between 2011 and 2015 while he was the Poet Laureate of Vermont.[4]

In 2021, Lea received the Governor's Award for Excellence from the Vermont Arts Council.[20] This award "is reserved for artists both distinguished in their field, and who have had a profound impact on the state of Vermont."[20]

Honors and awards

Personal life

In the early 1990s, Lea moved to Vermont.[7] He lives in Newbury, Vermont and has a camp in Washington County, Maine.[22][6] He has five adult children.[5]

He has served as the vice president of Central Vermont Adult Basic Education.[9] He is also active in the conservation effort in Washington County, Maine, helping to raise funds for the Downeast Lakes Land Trust.[9][4] He is currently a trustee emeritus of the Vermont College of Fine Arts.[23]

He plays the blues harmonica.[24]

Published works

Full-length poetry collections

  • Here. Four Way Books, 2019. ISBN 978-1945588402[19]
  • No Doubt the Nameless. Four Way Books, 2016. ISBN 1935536737.[25]
  • I Was Thinking of Beauty. Four Way Books, 2013. ISBN 9781935536314[5]
  • Six Sundays toward a Seventh: Selected Spiritual Poems. Cascade Books, 2012. ISBN 9781498214469[24]
  • Young of the Year. Four Way Books, 2011. ISBN 9781935536109[26]
  • Under Drum Ice, A Selection of Poems in Slovenian, translation by Marjan Strojan. 2006[27]
  • Ghost Pain: Poems. Sarabande Books, 2005. ISBN 978-1-932511-14-7[4][28]
  • Pursuit of a Wound. University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-252-06817-1[29]
  • To the Bone: New and Selected Poems. University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-252-06519-4[30]
  • The Blainville Testament. Story Line Press. 1992. ISBN 978-0-934257-80-0.
  • Prayer for the Little City: Poems. Scribner's, 1989. ISBN 9780684191294.[31]
  • No Sign. University of Georgia Press,1987. ISBN 9780820341606[32]
  • To the Summer Sweethearts. Press at Colorado College, 1985.[33]
  • The Floating Candles: Poems. University of Illinois Press, 1982 ISBN 9780252009761[34]
  • Searching the Drowned Man. University of Illinois Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0252007965[4]

Children's poetry books

  • The Exquisite Triumph of Wormboy. Illustrated by James Kochalka. Word/Galaxy, 2020. ISBN 978-1773490496[35]

Novels

  • A Place in Mind. Story Line Press. 1997. ISBN 978-1-885266-39-2. 1st edition Scribner's 1989[9]

Essay collections

  • Seen From All Sides: Lyric and Everyday Life. Green Writers Press, 2021. ISBN 978-1-7320815-0-5[36]
  • Growing Old in Poetry: Two Poets, Two Lives. with Fleda Brown. Green Writers Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0-9994995-5-9[37]
  • What’s the Story? Reflections on a Life Grown Long. Green Writers Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0990973393[38]
  • A North Country Life: Tales of Woodsmen, Waters, and Wildlife. Skyhorse/Simon & Schuster, 2013. ISBN 9781616088637[39]
  • A Hundred Himalayas: Essays on Life and Literature. University of Michigan, 2012, ISBN 978-0-472-07188-3[40]
  • A Little Wildness: Some Notes On Rambling. Story Line Press. 2006. ISBN 978-1-58654-046-3.[9]
  • Hunting the Whole Way Home: Essays and Poems. Lyons Press, 2002. ISBN 978-1-58574-560-9[41]
  • Gothic to Fantastic: Readings in Supernatural Fiction. Ayer Publishing, 1980. ISBN 978-0-405-12653-6[42]

Essays

  • "Sixty Steps from Yale." Numéro Cinq. vol. 7, no. 6, June 2016.[43]
  • "River, Stars, and Blessed Failure" Numéro Cinq. vol. 6, no. 2, February 2015.[44]
  • "The Serpent on Barnet Knoll: Three Essays." Numéro Cinq. vol. 5, no. 6, June 2014.[45]
  • "Sex & Death: Essay on the Uncanny." Numéro Cinq. vol. 5, no. 2, February 2014.[46]
  • "Mrs. Ragnetti and the Spider: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 4, no. 10, October 2013.[47]
  • "Pony and Graveyard: A Dream of the Flesh." Numéro Cinq. vol. 4, no. 2, February 2013.[48]
  • "A Short Sad Story: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 12, December 2012.[49]
  • "Becoming a Poet: A Way to Know." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 9, September 2012.[50]
  • "Unskunked: An Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 3, March 2012.[51]
  • "Weathers and Places: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 2, no. 3, March 2011.[52]
  • "The Pragmatist's Prayer." Image Journal. Issue 55, 2005.[53]
  • "Introduction." The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from Robert Frost Place, Volume 2. CavanKerry Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-9678856-8-1[54]
  • "Living with the Stories: Bonness Verbatim." Prairie Schooner, vol. 70, no. 1, Spring 1996, p. 160.[55]
  • "The Death Of A Hunting Dog", Sports Illustrated, December 2, 1991.[56]

Short stories

  • "Mercy on Beeson's Partridge." The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 70, no. 3, 1994, pp. 541–55.[57]
  • “Presences.” Prairie Schooner, vol. 64, no. 1, 1990, pp. 74–83.[58]

Anthology publications

  • "Inviting the Moose: A Vision." Poets of the New Century. Editors Roger Weingarten and Richard Higgerson. David R. Godine, 2003. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-56792-178-6[59]

Anthologies edited

  • The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. with Robert Pack and Jay Parini. University Press of New England, 1985. ISBN 978-0874513509[60]
  • The Nomads: Tales From Africa. with Morgan Chipopu. Zambian P.E.N. Center, 2006.
  • The Burdens of Formality: Essays on the Poetry of Anthony Hecht. University of Georgia Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0820310916[61]

References

  1. 1 2 "Vermont Arts Council". vermontartscouncil.org. Archived from the original on 2011-11-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Poets, Academy of American. "About Sydney Lea | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lilly, Amy (February 5, 2014). "'Mudtime' to Music: A Rising-Star Composer Collaborates With Vermont's Poet Laureate". Seven Days. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Sydney Lea". Poetry Foundation. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kolosov, Jacqueline (2014). "I Was Thinking of Beauty by Sydney Lea: Review". The Georgia Review (Spring): 200 and 202. JSTOR 43492300 – via JSTOR.
  6. 1 2 "Sydney Lea Web Site". www.sydneylea.net.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Class News: Sydney Lea '64 is Vermont's new Poet Laureate". www.yale64.org. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  8. 1 2 "Milestones" (PDF). The Review. St. Anthony Hall (Spring): 26. 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Brewer, Robert Lee (2009-12-06). "Interview With Poet Sydney Lea". Writers Digest: Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Awards – Sydney Lea". Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  11. ↑ "Sydney L.w. Lea". The New York Times. 1 February 1966 – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2008-10-16). "'Canary Weather'". Virginia Quarterly Review. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  13. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2003-12-01). "Children, Singing". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  14. ↑ Lea, Sydney (23 April 2018). "A Matter of Knowledge". Los Angeles Review. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  15. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1983-09-26). "After Labor Day". The New Yorker. p. 38. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  16. 1 2 "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation > Fellows > Sydney Lea". gf.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-22.
  17. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2008-09-06). "Mudtime In the County". Virginia Quarterly Review. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  18. ↑ "Steve Klimowski and Sydney Lea". Vermont Public Radio. 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  19. 1 2 3 "Here by Sydney Lea". Publishers Weekly. September 2019. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  20. 1 2 3 "Sydney Lea, winner of the 2021 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, on poetry & the pandemic". Vermont Public Radio. 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  21. ↑ "Poet of the environment at Unity College". Waldo County VillageSoup. 2014-01-30. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  22. ↑ "AGNI Online: Author Sydney Lea". www.bu.edu. 17 April 2023.
  23. ↑ "Sydney Lea". Vermont College of Fine Arts. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  24. 1 2 Davis, Brad (2013). "A Conversation with Sydney Lea". Image Journal, Issue 81. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  25. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2016). No Doubt the Nameless. Four Way Books. ISBN 978-1-935536-73-4.
  26. ↑ "Eleven Books | Volume 61, Number 1". Shenandoah. 2011. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  27. ↑ "Sydney Lea". Image Journal. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  28. ↑ Lea, Sydney. Ghost Pain. (2005, August 1). Library Journal, 130(13). via ESBCO. Accessed June 22, 2022.
  29. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2000). Pursuit of a wound : poems. Internet Archive. Urbana : University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06817-1.
  30. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1996). To the Bone: New and Selected Poems. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06519-4.
  31. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1990). Prayer for the Little City: Poems. Scribner's. ISBN 978-0-684-19129-4.
  32. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2012). No Sign. Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-4160-6.
  33. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1985). To the Summer Sweethearts. Press at Colorado College.
  34. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1982). The Floating Candles: Poems. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-00976-1.
  35. ↑ Maluck, T. (2020, November 1). LEA, Sydney & James Kochalka. The Exquisite Triumph of Wormboy: An Illustrated Epic. School Library Journal, 66(11). via EBSCO, accessed June 22, 2022.
  36. ↑ "Seen from All Sides: Lyric and Everyday Life". Green Writers Press. 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  37. ↑ "Growing Old in Poetry: Two Poets, Two Lives". Green Writers Press. 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  38. ↑ "The Sydney Lea NC Archive". Numéro Cinq. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  39. ↑ "A North Country Life: Tales of Woodsmen, Waters, and Wildlife". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  40. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2012). A Hundred Himalayas: Essays on Life and Literature. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. doi:10.3998/mpub.4688618. ISBN 978-0-472-07188-3.
  41. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2002). Hunting the whole way home : essays and poems. Internet Archive. Guilford, Conn. : Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1-58574-560-9.
  42. ↑ Lea, Sydney (1980-01-01). Gothic to Fantastic: Readings in Supernatural Fiction. Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-405-12653-6.
  43. ↑ Lea, Sydney (June 2016). "Sixty Steps to Yale: Essay". Numéro Cinq. 7 (6).
  44. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "River, Stars, and Blessed Failure" Numéro Cinq. vol. 6, no. 2, February 2015.
  45. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "The Serpent on Barnet Knoll: Three Essays." Numéro Cinq. vol. 5, no. 6, February 2014.
  46. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Sex & Death: Essay on the Uncanny." Numéro Cinq. vol. 5, no. 2, February 2014.
  47. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Mrs. Ragnetti and the Spider: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 4, no. 10, October 2013.
  48. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Pony and Graveyard: A Dream of the Flesh." Numéro Cinq. vol. 4, no. 2, February 2013.
  49. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "A Short Sad Story: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 12, December 2012.
  50. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Becoming a Poet: A Way to Know." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 9, September 2012.
  51. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Unskunked: An Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 3, no. 3, March 2012
  52. ↑ Lea, Sydney. "Weathers and Places: Essay." Numéro Cinq. vol. 2, no. 3, March 2011.
  53. ↑ Lea, Sydney (2005). "The Pragmatist's Prayer". Image Journal issue 55. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  54. ↑ "The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Robert Frost Place, Volume 2". CavanKerry Press. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  55. ↑ Lea, S. (1996). "Living with the stories: Bonness Verbatim." Prairie Schooner, 70(1), 160. via JSTOR, accessed June 22, 2022.
  56. ↑ Lea, Sydney (December 2, 1991). "The Death of a Hunting Dog". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  57. ↑ LEA, SYDNEY. “MERCY ON BEESON’S PARTRIDGE.” The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 70, no. 3, 1994, pp. 541–55. JSTOR, JSTOR 26438524. Accessed 23 Jun. 2022.
  58. ↑ Lea, Sydney. “Presences.” Prairie Schooner, vol. 64, no. 1, 1990, pp. 74–83. JSTOR, JSTOR 40632542. Accessed 23 Jun. 2022.
  59. ↑ Weingarten, Roger; Higgerson, Richard (2001). Poets of the New Century. David R. Godine Publisher. ISBN 978-1-56792-178-6.
  60. ↑ College, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference of Middlebury (1985). The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College. ISBN 978-0-87451-349-3.
  61. ↑ "The Burdens of Formality". Georgia Press. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
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