# James Longenbach

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American critic and poet

**James Longenbach** (Sept. 17, 1959 – July 29, 2022) was an [American](/source/Americans) [critic](/source/Critic) and [poet](/source/Poet). His early critical work focused on [modernist](/source/Modernist) poetry, namely that of [Ezra Pound](/source/Ezra_Pound), [W. B. Yeats](/source/W._B._Yeats), and [Wallace Stevens](/source/Wallace_Stevens), but came to include contemporary poetry as well. His book of criticism, *The Resistance to Poetry*, has been described as a "compact and exponentially provocative book."[1] Longenbach published six volumes of poetry including *Earthling* (2017), which was a finalist for the [National Book Critics Circle Award](/source/National_Book_Critics_Circle_Award).[2]

## Career

Longenbach received his bachelor's degree in 1981 from [Trinity College](/source/Trinity_College_(Connecticut)) in Hartford, Connecticut and subsequently received his Ph.D. from [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University).

Longenbach was Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of English at the [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester) and taught at the University from 1985 until his death in 2022. His poems also appeared in many magazines and journals, including *[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)*, *[The New Republic](/source/The_New_Republic)*, *[The Nation](/source/The_Nation)*, and *[The Yale Review](/source/Yale_Review)*, as well as *[The Best American Poetry 1995](/source/The_Best_American_Poetry_1995)* anthology. Longenbach frequently reviewed books for *[Boston Review](/source/Boston_Review)*, *[The Nation](/source/The_Nation)*, and the *[Los Angeles Times Book Review](/source/Los_Angeles_Times_Book_Review)*.

## Personal life

Longenbach was married to novelist [Joanna Scott](/source/Joanna_Scott) (and fellow Trinity graduate) whom he met in [Rome, Italy](/source/Rome%2C_Italy), in 1981.[2] Scott eventually taught in the English Department of the University of Rochester.

Longenbach died at age 62 from cancer on July 29, 2022, in [Stonington, Connecticut](/source/Stonington%2C_Connecticut). He was survived by his wife and their two daughters.[2]

## Selected bibliography

**Prose**

- *Modernist Poetics of History: Pound, Eliot, and the Sense of the Past* (1987)

- *Stone Cottage: Pound, Yeats & Modernism* (1988; Oxford University Press)

- *Ezra Pound’s Poetry and Prose: Contributions to Periodicals in Ten Volumes* (1991) (co-editor)

- *Wallace Stevens: The Plain Sense of Things* (1991; Oxford University Press)

- *Modern Poetry After Modernism* (1997; Oxford University Press)

- *The Resistance to Poetry* (2005; University of Chicago Press)

- *The Art of the Poetic Line* (Dec. 2007; Graywolf Press)

- *How Poems Get Made* (2018; W.W. Norton & Company)

- *The Lyric Now* (2020; University of Chicago Press)

**Poetry**

- *Threshold: Poems* (1998; University of Chicago Press)

- *Fleet River: Poems* (2003; University of Chicago Press)

- *Draft of a Letter: Poems* (Apr. 2007; University of Chicago Press)

- *the iron key: poems* (2012; W.W. Norton & Company)

- *earthling: poems* (2017; W.W. Norton & Company)

- *forever: poems* (2021; W.W. Norton & Company)

- *Seafarer: New Poems with “Earthling” and “Forever”* (2024; W.W. Norton & Company)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [review of *The Resistance to Poetry*](http://www.poetrymagazine.org/books/staffreviews/3.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20061001170140/http://www.poetrymagazine.org/books/staffreviews/3.html) 2006-10-01 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) at the journal *[Poetry](/source/Poetry_(magazine))*. Accessed 3 July 2006.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Rochester_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Rochester_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Rochester_2-2) Tokar, Sofia (August 16, 2022). ["James Longenbach 'made a central and rich place for poetry' at Rochester"](https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/remembering-james-longenbach-poet-critic-530072/).

## External links

- [Official Website of James Longenbach](https://www.jameslongenbach.com/)

- [Longenbach in conversation with Jesse Lichtenstein](http://www.loggernaut.org/interviews/jameslongenbach) at *[Loggernaut](/source/Loggernaut)*.

- [Longenbach in conversation with Louise Glück](https://lannan.org/media/louise-gluck-with-james-longenbach) for the [Lannan Foundation](/source/Lannan_Foundation).

- [Fairchild Award presented to James Longenbach](http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1916), from University of Rochester public relations, October 2004

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