Tom Clark Papers

Tom Clark is known for his poetry, biographies, plays, reviews, novels, and sports-related materials.

Born in Chicago to parents Arthur Willard and Rita Mary Clark on March 1, 1941, Clark enrolled at John Caroll University from 1959 – 1960, but ultimately obtained his degree from the University of Michigan in 1963. He began writing more poetry while in college where his early influences included Wallace Stevens, Boris Pasternak, Theodore Roethke, and Rainer Maria Rilke. That year, he started as the poetry editor for the renowned Paris Review (which he then held for a decade), thanks to a recommendation from poet and former teacher Donald Hall. Clark received a Fulbright fellowship in 1963, allowing him to earn an M.A. at Cambridge in 1965. He furthered his graduate studies and taught American poetry at the University of Essex from 1965-1967, at which point he also founded and edited his own poetic mimeographed magazine series, Once. Although Clark had no great affinity for many contemporary poets, he became fond of the work of Ezra Pound during his stay in the U.K. While there, he better acquainted himself with Beat poet and fellow hitchhiker Allen Ginsberg while also mingling with poets such as Robert Graves and Gregory Corso.

Clark was recognized for his talent over the years. In addition to the aforementioned Fulbright fellowship, he won prizes from Poetry magazine (1966, 1968), received Rockefeller (1967-1968) and Guggenheim (1970-1971) fellowships, won a Poets Foundation Award (1967), and also obtained funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (1985).

He taught poetics at the New College of California from 1987-2008. Tom Clark died August 17, 2018.

Sources (listed in the order in which they were read):

"Tom Clark." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. /go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1000018417&v =2.1&u=22516&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>.

"Tom Clark." Contemporary Poets. Gale, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. /go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CK1660000876&v =2.1&u=22516&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w>.

Ring, Kevin. Tom Clark in conversation with Beat Scene editor Kevin Ring. Beat Scene (42): 2002. Print. Accessed online: Jacket Magazine (21): February 2003. Jacketmagazine.com. /jacketmagazine.com/21/clark-iv1.html>.