{{Short description|American poet, translator, and educator (1923–2019)}} '''John Ignatius Knoepfle''' (February 4, 1923{{snd}}November 16, 2019) was an American poet, translator, and educator, principally at Sangamon State University, who is credited with helping to revive Midwestern poetry in the 1960s.<ref name="Hadden">{{cite encyclopedia|title=John (Ignatius) Knoepfle|first=Theodore|last=Hadden|editor=Philip A. Greasley|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Midwestern Literature|volume=1: The Authors|year=2001|location=Bloomington, Indiana|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-33609-0|pages=301–303|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnuYKJSoHCMC&pg=PA301|accessdate=May 2, 2009}}</ref><ref name="SJR Spearie">{{cite news|title=Knoepfle remembered as 'artist of heart and head'|first=Steven|last=Spearie|work=The State Journal-Register|publisher=Gannett Company|location=Springfield, Illinois|date=November 20, 2019|accessdate=February 13, 2021|url=https://www.sj-r.com/news/20191120/knoepfle-remembered-as-artist-of-heart-and-head|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619041315/https://www.sj-r.com/news/20191120/knoepfle-remembered-as-artist-of-heart-and-head|url-status=dead}}</ref> He also served in the United States Navy during World War II and participated in the civil rights and antiwar movements.
==Early life== Knoepfle was born in Cincinnati on February 4, 1923, as the youngest of four brothers in a Swiss-Irish Catholic family.<ref name="Hadden" /> He graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1941.<ref name="DePue">{{cite interview|title=An Interview with John Knoepfle|first=John|last=Knoepfle|interviewer=Mark R. DePue|publisher=Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum|location=Springfield, Illinois|date=August 5, 2019|url=https://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/OralHistory/VeteransRemember/worldwarII/Pages/Knoepfle,-John.aspx|access-date=February 14, 2021|archive-date=April 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419092103/https://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/OralHistory/VeteransRemember/worldwarII/Pages/Knoepfle,-John.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Military service== Knoepfle had begun his first year studying English at Xavier University when the United States entered World War II. He continued studying at Xavier under the V-12 Navy College Training Program, then enlisted on December 12, 1942. He took classes at Dartmouth College while undergoing basic training.<ref name="DePue" />
Knoepfle was commissioned in June 1944 and posted to Plattsburg, New York, as a small boat officer. He was transferred to Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and assigned to the USS ''Deuel''. He transported Marines aboard Higgins boats at the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. While he awaited a surgery for a leg injury sustained at Iwo Jima, he completed his studies at Xavier University. He was discharged in July 1946<ref name="DePue" /> and awarded the Purple Heart for his injury.<ref name="SJR Spearie" />
==Career== After the war, Knoepfle received his Ph.B. in 1947 and M.A. in 1949 from Xavier University.<ref name="Bio">{{cite web|title=Biography|first=John|last=Knoepfle|accessdate=February 14, 2021|url=http://www.johnknoepfle.com/biography.shtml}}</ref> He worked as a producer and director at the public television station WCET in Cincinnati from 1954 to 1955. He received a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in 1967.<ref name="Hadden" />
Knoepfle taught English at the Southern Illinois University East St. Louis Center from 1957 to 1961, as well as at St. Louis University High School and Ohio State University. He was assistant professor of English at Maryville College of the Sacred Heart from 1961 to 1965<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="Bio" /> and also taught at Washington University in St. Louis.<ref name="Laureate">{{cite web|title=John Knoepfle|publisher=Illinois Poet Laureate|accessdate=February 13, 2021|url=https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/featuredpoet_Knoepfle.aspx|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225222950/https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/poetlaureate/Pages/featuredpoet_Knoepfle.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> He served as director of creative writing at Saint Louis University from 1966 to 1972 and as professor of literature at Sangamon State University from 1972 to 1991.<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="Bio" />
==Activism and social work== John Knoepfle and his wife Margaret were active in social justice and antiwar movements for more than 50 years. John Knoepfle took a bus to Alabama in 1963 as a Freedom Rider. They both marched in protests against the Vietnam War during the 1960s and held weekly antiwar vigils outside the Federal Building in Springfield.<ref name="ILTimes Woulfe" />
Knoepfle served as a consultant for Upward Bound, the federal program for poor and at-risk high school students, from 1965 to 1970.<ref name="Hadden" />
==Personal life== Knoepfle married Peggy Sower in Cincinnati on December 26, 1956. They had five children and four grandchildren.<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="Bio" /><ref name="ILTimes Woulfe">{{cite news|title=Long life and poetry|first=Martin|last=Woulfe|work=Illinois Times|publisher=Central Illinois Communications|location=Springfield, Illinois|date=May 23, 2019|accessdate=February 13, 2021|url=https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/long-life-and-poetry/Content?oid=11482041}}</ref> They lived in Auburn, Illinois, for 30 years, then moved in 2002 to Springfield,<ref name="Bio" /> where he died on November 16, 2019.<ref name="SJR Spearie" />
==Published works== Knoepfle published more than 25 books over his 50-year career, including ''Rivers Into Islands'' (1965), ''Poems from the Sangamon'' (1985), and ''Begging An Amnesty'' (1994).<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="SJR Spearie" /> From 1954 to 1960, Knoepfle recorded "The Knoepfle Collection", a series of 50 hourlong interviews of steamboat men along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="Laureate" />
With Wang Shouyi, Knoepfle translated Chinese poetry from the Tang and Song dynasties into English; these translations also circulated within China.<ref name="Hadden" /><ref name="ILTimes Woulfe" />
==Awards== Knoepfle received many awards for his writing, including:<ref name="SJR Spearie" /><ref name="Laureate" />
* Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Contributions to Midwestern Literature (1986), Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature at Michigan State University * Illinois Writer of the Year (1986), Illinois Association of Teachers of English * Literary Heritage Award (1995), Illinois Center for the Book * Doctor of Humane Letters (1996), Maryville University * Doctor of Humane Letters (1999), Springfield College in Illinois * WILL Award Signaling Excellence in the Arts (2002), University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign * President's Award for Exemplary Achievement in the Literary Arts (2004), Poets and Writers Literary Forum, Springfield
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.johnknoepfle.com/}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoepfle, John Ignatius}} Category:1923 births Category:2019 deaths Category:American people of Swiss descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Educators from Cincinnati Category:Writers from Cincinnati Category:Writers from Springfield, Illinois Category:St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Category:Xavier University alumni Category:Saint Louis University alumni Category:Ohio State University faculty Category:Southern Illinois University faculty Category:Maryville University faculty Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty Category:Saint Louis University faculty Category:University of Illinois Springfield Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Freedom Riders Category:Poets from Illinois Category:20th-century American poets Category:American male poets Category:American Catholic poets Category:20th-century American translators Category:American academics of English literature Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Dartmouth College alumni