Archibald MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982), American poet, social critic, public servant, and educator. He was born in Glencoe, Illinois, and educated at Yale University and Harvard Law School. He wrote his earliest poetry, including The Happy Marriage (1924), The Pot of Earth (1925), and The Hamlet of A. MacLeish (1928), while living in France.

Always concerned with social problems, MacLeish supported the New Deal reforms instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he served in a number of Offices, including Librarian of Congress (1939-44). MacLeish was also an officer of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and for 18 years he taught at Harvard University and Amherst College. Throughout his teaching career, he continued to write both poetry and criticism and to develop the verse-play form for radio and stage. Known for his technical skill and originality, he was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, first in 1933 for his narrative on the conquest of Mexico, Conquistador (1932), and again in 1953 for Collected Poems, 1917-1952. For the latter collection he also received the National Book Award for poetry. His verse play J.B. (1958), based on the Book of Job, won the Pulitzer Prize in drama for 1959. Among MacLeish's later works are New and Collected Poems (1976) and Riders on the Earth: Essays and Recollections (1978).