Editing Kenneth Rexroth

{{short description|American poet (1905–1982)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|dateformat=mdy|image=Kenneth Rexroth.jpg}}

'''Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth''' (December 22, 1905 – June 6, 1982)<ref>{{cite book |last=Irr |first=Caren |url=http://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1602193 |title=American National Biography |date=February 2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |chapter=Rexroth, Kenneth (1905-1982), poet and translator |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1602193|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 }}</ref> was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the [[San Francisco Renaissance]], and paved the groundwork for the movement.<ref name=poet>{{cite web|url=http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1270|title=Kenneth Rexroth|publisher=The [[Academy of American Poets]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=D'Andrade |first=Hugh |title=Kenneth Rexroth and Barcelona by the Bay - FoundSF |url=https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Kenneth_Rexroth_and_Barcelona_by_the_Bay |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120065537/https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Kenneth_Rexroth_and_Barcelona_by_the_Bay |archive-date=November 20, 2022 |access-date=August 9, 2024 |website=www.foundsf.org}}</ref> Although he did not consider himself to be a [[Beat Generation|Beat poet]], and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine.<ref name="Hamill-1997" /> Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Japanese language|Japanese]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Kenneth Rexroth |url=https://www.modernamericanpoetry.org/poet/kenneth-rexroth |website=Modern American Poetry |access-date=25 February 2021 |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117095334/https://modernamericanpoetry.org/poet/kenneth-rexroth |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Early life==
Rexroth was born Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth in [[South Bend]], [[Indiana]],<ref name=pn>{{cite journal|title=News & Notes|journal=PN Review|date=February 1983|volume=9|issue=3|url=http://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?item_id=6752|access-date=2 November 2014}}</ref> the son of Charles Rexroth, a [[Pharmaceutical sales representative|pharmaceuticals salesman]], and Delia Reed. His childhood was troubled by his father's [[alcoholism]] and his mother's [[chronic illness]]. His mother died in 1916 and his father in 1919, after which he went to live with his aunt in [[Chicago]] and enrolled in the [[Art Institute of Chicago]].{{sfn |Perkins |1987 |p=538}}

At age 19, he [[hitchhiked]] across the country, taking odd jobs and working a stint as a [[United States Forest Service|Forest Service]] trail crew hand, cook and packer at the [[Marblemount, Washington|Marblemount]] Ranger Station in the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref name="Suiter 2002, pg. 81">Suiter 2002, p. 81</ref>

==Poetry career==
In the 1930s, Rexroth was associated with the [[Objectivism (poetry)|Objectivists]], a largely New York group gathered around [[Louis Zukofsky]] and [[George Oppen]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last= McAllister|editor-first= Andrew |date=1996 |title= The Objectivists |url= |location=Eastburn |publisher= Bloodaxe Books|pages= 12–13|isbn=9781852243418 |author-link= }}</ref> He was included in the 1931 issue of ''[[Poetry (magazine)|Poetry]]'' magazine dedicated to Objectivist poetry, and in the 1932 ''[[Objectivism (poetry)#Reaction|An “Objectivists” Anthology]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://z-site.net/biblio-research/the-objectivists-and-their-publications/ |title=The "Objectivists" and Their Publications|last=Scroggins |first=Mark |date= |website=Z-site, A Companion to the Works of Louis Zukofsky |publisher=Z-site |access-date=17 July 2021 |quote= }}</ref> Much of Rexroth's work can be classified as "erotic" or "love poetry", given his deep fascination with transcendent love. According to [[Sam Hamill|Hamill]] and Kleiner, "nowhere is Rexroth's verse more fully realized than in his [[erotic poetry]]".<ref name=Hamill-1997>{{cite book |editor1-last=Sam Hamill |editor1-first=Sam |editor2-last=Kleiner |editor2-first=Elaine Laura |title=Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems of Kenneth Rexroth |date=1997 |publisher=Copper Canyon Press |isbn=9781556590801 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXzPuQEACAAJ |access-date=25 February 2021}}</ref>

With ''The Love Poems of Marichiko'', Rexroth claimed to have translated the poetry of a contemporary, "young Japanese woman poet", but it was later disclosed that he was the author, and he gained critical recognition for having conveyed so authentically the feelings of someone of another gender and culture.<ref name="weinberger117-8">Weinberger 1986, pp. 117-118</ref> Linda Hamalian, his biographer, suggests that, "translating the work of women poets from China and Japan reveals a transformation of both heart and mind".<ref name="Hamill-1997"/>

[[File:Kenneth Rexroth Street.jpg|thumb|Kenneth Rexroth Street in San Francisco, California]]
With Rexroth acting as [[master of ceremonies]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Philip Lamantia]], [[Michael McClure]], [[Gary Snyder]], and [[Philip Whalen]] performed at the famous [[Six Gallery reading]] on October 7, 1955.{{sfn |Perkins |1987 |p=539}} Rexroth later testified as a defense witness at Ferlinghetti's [[obscenity]] trial for publishing [[Howl (poem)|"Howl"]]. Rexroth had previously sent Ginsberg (new in the [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]]) to meet Snyder, and was thus responsible for their friendship. [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] named Rexroth as one of his own mentors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legendary Beat Generation Bookseller and Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books on the 50th Anniversary of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and Poetry as Insurgent Art |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/24/legendary_beat_generation_bookseller_and_poet |website=Democracy Now |access-date=25 February 2021 |format=Interview |date=December 24, 2007}}</ref> Rexroth was eventually critical of the Beat movement. Years after the Six Gallery reading, ''Time'' referred to him as "Father of the [[Beat Generation|Beats]].<ref name="Hamill-1997" /> Rexroth ostensibly appears in [[Jack Kerouac]]'s novel ''[[The Dharma Bums]]'' as Reinhold Cacoethes.<ref>Beat Museum, The. "Books by Jack Kerouac-Real Names and their Aliases". self-published, N.D., unpaginated.</ref>

==Politics==
As a young man in Chicago, Rexroth was involved with the [[anarchism|anarchist]] movement and was active in the [[Industrial Workers of the World|IWW]].<ref name="Suiter 2002, pg. 81"/> Fellow poet [[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]] recalled that Rexroth self-identified as a [[Philosophical anarchism|philosophical anarchist]], regularly associated with other anarchists in [[North Beach, San Francisco, California|North Beach]], and sold Italian [[Anarchist newspaper|anarchist newspapers]] at the [[City Lights Bookstore]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/poetry/features/0,,1815401,00.html |title=Last of the bohemians |access-date=2008-06-08 |last=Wroe |first=Nicholas |work=The Guardian|format=Interview|quote=He called himself a 'philosophical anarchist'... | location=London | date=July 1, 2006}}</ref>

Rexroth, a [[Pacifism|pacifist]], was a [[conscientious objector]] during [[World War II]].<ref name="Suiter 2002, pg. 81"/>

==Painter==
Rexroth trained as an artist and was an avid painter into his 40s. His mediums were usually wax and silica on Masonite or board. In his introduction to an undated auction catalog of Rexroth's paintings, critic [[Bradford Morrow]] observes that his early works were mainly abstract, often geometric reminiscent of [[Piet Mondrian|Mondrian]], but that as time went on, Rexroth turned to more [[Figurative art|figurative]] treatment of his subjects.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morrow |first1=Bradford |title="Kenneth Rexroth Paintings |url=https://www.jamesjaffe.com/pdf/Kenneth_Rexroth_Paintings_Catalogue.pdf |publisher=James S. Jaffee Rare Books |access-date=15 August 2024}}</ref> 

==Last years==
Rexroth died in [[Santa Barbara, California]], on June 6, 1982.<ref name=pn/> He had spent his final years translating Japanese and Chinese women poets, as well as promoting the work of female poets in America and overseas. The year before his death, on Easter, Rexroth converted to [[Roman Catholicism]].<ref name="Hamalian 1991, p. 367">Hamalian 1991, p. 367</ref>

==Works==

===As author===
(all titles poetry except where indicated)
*''In What Hour?'' (1940). New York: The Macmillan Company
*''The Phoenix and the Tortoise'' (1944). New York: [[New Directions Press]]
*''The Art of Worldly Wisdom'' (1949). Prairie City, Il: [[Decker Press]] (reissued in 1953 by Golden Goose and 1980 by Morrow & Covici)
*''The Signature of All Things'' (1949). New York: New Directions
*''[[Beyond the Mountains (play)|Beyond the Mountains: Four Plays in Verse]]'' (1951). New York: New Directions Press
*''The Dragon and the Unicorn'' (1952). New York: New Directions Press
*''Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Memorial for Dylan Thomas'' (1955). Mill Valley: Goad Press
*''In Defense of the Earth'' (1956). New York: New Directions Press
*''Bird in the Bush: Obvious Essays'' (1959) New York: New Directions
*''Assays'' (1961) New York: New Directions (essays)
*''Natural Numbers: New and Selected Poems'' (1963).  New York: New Directions 
*''Classics Revisited'' (1964; 1986). New York: New Directions (essays).
*''Collected Shorter Poems'' (1966). New York: New Directions.
*''An Autobiographical Novel'' (1966). New York: Doubleday (prose autobiography)(expanded edition 1991 by New Directions)
*''Heart's Garden, The Garden's Heart'' (1967). Cambridge: Pym-Randall Press
*''Collected Longer Poems'' (1968). New York: New Directions.
*''The Alternative Society: Essays from the Other World'' (1970). New York: Herder & Herder.
*''With Eye and Ear'' (1970). New York: Herder & Herder.
*''American Poetry in the Twentieth Century'' (1971). New York: Herder & Herder (essay).
*''Sky, Sea, Birds, Trees, Earth, House, Beasts, Flowers'' (1971). Santa Barbara: Unicorn Press
*''The Elastic Retort: Essays in Literature and Ideas'' (1973). Seabury.
*''Communalism: From Its Origins to the Twentieth Century'' (1974). Seabury (non-fiction).
*''New Poems'' (1974). New York: New Directions 
*''The Silver Swan'' (1976). Port Townsend: [[Copper Canyon Press]]
*''On Flower Wreath Hill'' (1976). Burnaby, British Columbia: Blackfish Press 
*''The Love Poems of Marichiko'' (1978). Santa Barbara: Christopher's Books
*''The Morning Star'' (1979) New York: New Directions
*''Saucy Limericks & Christmas Cheer'' (1980).  Santa Barbara: Bradford Morrow
*''Between Two Wars: Selected Poems Written Before World War II'' (1982). Labyrinth Editions & The Iris Press
*''Selected Poems'' (1984). New York: New Directions
*''World Outside the Window: Selected Essays'' (1987). New York: New Directions
*''More Classics Revisited'' (1989). New York: New Directions (essays).
*''An Autobiographical Novel'' (1964; expanded edition, 1991). New York: New Directions
*''Kenneth Rexroth & James Laughlin: Selected Letters'' (1991). New York: [[W. W. Norton & Company|Norton]].
*''Flower Wreath Hill: Later Poems'' (1991). New York: New Directions.
*''Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems'' (1997). Copper Canyon Press.
*''Swords That Shall Not Strike: Poems of Protest and Rebellion'' (1999). Glad Day.
*''Complete Poems'' (2003). Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press.
*''In the Sierra: Mountain Writings'' (2012). New York: New Directions (poems and prose).
*''K. Rexroth: World Poems #17'' (2017). Tokyo: Shichōsha (poems and prose in Japanese translation).

===As translator===
(in chronological order)
*''Fourteen Poems'' by O. V. de L.-Milosz. (1952), San Francisco: Peregrine Press. Translated by Kenneth Rexroth, with illustrations by [[Edward Hagedorn (artist)|Edward Hagedorn]].  Second edition. (Port Townsend, WA): Copper Canyon Press, (1983). Paperbound. Issued without the Hagedorn illustrations.
*''30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile'' (1956), San Francisco: City Lights Books.
*''One Hundred Poems from the Japanese'' (1955), New York: New Directions.
*''[[One Hundred Poems From the Chinese]]'' (1956), New York: New Directions.
*''Poems from the Greek Anthology''. (1962), Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor Paperbacks: [[University of Michigan Press|University of Michigan Press.]]
*''[[Pierre Reverdy]]: Selected Poems'' (1969), New York: New Directions
*''[[Love and the Turning Year|Love and the Turning Year: One Hundred More Poems from the Chinese]]'' (1970), New York: New Directions.
*''100 Poems from the French'' (1972), Pym-Randall.
*''Orchid Boat'' (1972), Seabury Press. with Ling Chung; reprinted as ''Women Poets of China'', New York: New Directions
*''100 More Poems from the Japanese'' (1976), New York: New Directions.
*''The Burning Heart'' (1977), Seabury Press. with Ikuko Atsumi; reprinted as ''Women Poets of Japan'', New York: New Directions
*''Seasons of Sacred Lust: Selected Poems of Kazuko Shiraishi''. (1978), (New York): New Directions.
*''Complete Poems of Li Ch'ing-Chao''. (1979), (New York): New Directions.

===Discography===
* ''Poetry Readings in the Cellar (with the Cellar Jazz Quintet): Kenneth Rexroth & Lawrence Ferlinghetti'' (1957) Fantasy #7002 LP ([[Spoken word album|Spoken Word]])
* ''Rexroth: Poetry and Jazz at the Blackhawk'' (1958) Fantasy #7008 LP (Spoken Word)

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Charters, Ann (ed.). ''The Portable Beat Reader''. [[Penguin Books]]. New York. 1992. {{ISBN|0-670-83885-3}} (hc); {{ISBN|0-14-015102-8}} (Paperback)
* {{cite book |last1=Hamalian |first1=Linda |title=A Life of Kenneth Rexroth |date=1991 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=9780393309157 |edition=Paper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKj_HAAACAAJ&q=editions:ZY26ipHisIEC}}
*Hartzell, James and Zumwinkle, Richard. "Kenneth Rexroth. A Checklist of His Published Writings". Los Angeles: Friends of the UCLA Library, 1967. (Hardcopy and paper)
*{{cite book |last=Perkins |first=David |year=1987 |title=A History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press}}
*Perron, Lee. Kenneth Rexroth. "A Bibliographic Checklist". Bennett Valley, CA: Sun Moon Bear Editions, 2009. (Paper)
*Suiter, John. "Poets on the Peaks" (2002) [[Counterpoint (publisher)|Counterpoint]]. {{ISBN|1-58243-148-5}}; {{ISBN|1-58243-294-5}} (Paper)
*Weinberger, Eliot. ''Works of Paper, 1980-1986'' (1986)  New Directions. {{ISBN|0-8112-1000-6}}

==Further reading==
* Faas, Ekbert (1981) ''Kenneth Rexroth. Excerpts from a Life.'' Santa Barbara: Conjunctions.
* {{Cite book |last1=Gibson |first1=Morgan |title=Revolutionary Rexroth: Poet of East-West Wisdom |date=1986 |isbn=978-0-208-02121-2 |publisher=Archon Books |location=Hamden |oclc=462150573 |df=mdy-all |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionaryrex00gibs }}
* {{Cite news |last1=Woodcock |first1=George |author-link=George Woodcock |title=Elegy for an Anarchist |work=[[London Review of Books]] |pages=20–22 |date=1984-01-19 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/v06/n01/george-woodcock/elegy-for-an-anarchist |issn=0260-9592 |df=mdy-all }}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/index.htm Kenneth Rexroth Archive], a collection of works by and about Rexroth, part of Ken Knabb's ''Bureau of Public Secrets'' site.
*In fall 2006, the literary journal [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/index_52_2_3_4.shtml Chicago Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108002029/http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/index_52_2_3_4.shtml |date=January 8, 2007 }} published a special issue on Rexroth that includes a large collection of his correspondence, an interview conducted by [[Bradford Morrow]], and several essays and poems in his honor.
*[http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rexroth/sacramental.htm Introduction to Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems of Kenneth Rexroth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216204603/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/MAPS/poets/m_r/rexroth/sacramental.htm |date=December 16, 2004 }}
*[http://libcom.org/history/rexroth-kenneth-1905-1982 A biography of Kenneth Rexroth] - focussing on his anarchist and working-class politics
*[http://kennethrexroth.com/ Kenneth Rexroth Film: The Signature of All Things] - Los Angeles poets read Rexroth to celebrate his 100th birthday.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050103092430/http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/RexrothKenneth.htm Kenneth Rexroth], from the Anarchist Encyclopedia
*[http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/communalism2.htm Communalism], Seabury 1972, e-text
*[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rexroth/rexroth.htm Illinois' ''Modern American Poetry'', Kenneth Rexroth page.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521001133/http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rexroth/rexroth.htm |date=May 21, 2019 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100308230845/http://www.bonestamp.com/rexroth/  Rexroth blog.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100105091837/http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/linernotes/kenneth_rexroth.html Interview with Sam Hamill, editor of ''The Collected Poems of Kenneth Rexroth''.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927141145/http://www.zinkle.com/p/articles/mi_m2078/is_n1_v37/ai_14766065 A Life of Kenneth Rexroth - R book reviews][https://web.archive.org/web/20070323233342/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2078/is_n1_v37/ai_14766065]; Fall, 1993; Review of Linda Hamalian, ''A life of Kenneth Rexroth'', by Donald Gutierrez (Literary Review).
* [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rexroth/gutierrez.htm On Rexroth's Poetry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430172745/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rexroth/gutierrez.htm |date=April 30, 2006 }}; 1999; Donald K. Gutierrez essay, from Kenneth Rexroth's ''Modern American Poetry'' page; Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
* {{Find a Grave|8819062}}
*[http://www.kerouacalley.com/rexroth.html Kenneth Rexroth multimedia directory - @ Keroauc Alley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820064905/http://www.kerouacalley.com/rexroth.html |date=August 20, 2008 }}
*[http://www.ubu.com/ethno/discourses/rexroth_indian.html Rexroth essay on ''American Indian Songs'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100925014550/http://rexrothfilm.com/  Tribute on 100th birthday]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rexroth, Kenneth}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American anarchists]]
[[Category:American conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery]]
[[Category:English-language haiku poets]]
[[Category:Industrial Workers of the World members]]
[[Category:Objectivist poets]]
[[Category:Poets from California]]
[[Category:Poets from Indiana]]
[[Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from South Bend, Indiana]]
[[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]]