Extraordinary Writings

Randall Jarrell is an extraordinary writer and I have learned so much about him, and what he did to accomplish his dreams in life. Writing story after story is very hard, but Jarrell just make it look so easy. Looking at his rough childhood and through the years of his adulthood, he was able to take everything and present it into his writings, which to me was phenomenal. Those stories were the ones that sold the most and people seemed interested in them, even though there was different characters, each one was a family member of some sort in his family. Especially the war poems and stories that he had written caught my eye and I just wanted to know why he wrote about War, and why he liked it so much. People can view different authors any way they can and share their own opinion about them, just like I have done by talking about Randall Jarrell. I do take Literature more seriously and look further than just reading a poem or short story and moving on, and taking my time to understand why it was written and who was the person (author), and why they chose to write a certain piece of work.

American Poetic Critic

Randall Jarrell is a phenomenal writer, and that most of his writings come within childhood or adulthood experiences. As a writer, there are those who will critique his work or have their own opinion about the writings. From learning a little more about Jarrell, he himself is a critic not only to is own work, but to other writers around the world. Though other authors view him as just a critic, he still writes poetry and is still teaching at many universities. Even today his love for poetry still lives on and he still remains one of the best poetic critics in the world. Though we view citics as harsh, rude, mean, and unaware of the actuall text and meaning of the writings, Jarrell is not ever precieved as any of those things, and is actually looked at one of the best critics ever lived in poetic view. His writings has touched many in a way in that, he really only looks at his view on his writings and critiques his own work.


Jarrell was a very inspirational man to people in the world, and even after his death they still read his poetry, and they still adore his photographs that he had taken over time and time again. Jarrell thrived as a critic, and it was during an era when American literary criticism, particularly poetry was itself thriving(Leithauser). When we see Jarrell as this extraordinary poetic writer in his time, we see a man who is very well educated and know what he's doing to try to get the readers attention as their reading his poetry. He wants his readers to feel alive and feel like their apart of the story, and feel the emotion it's trying to bring. One of the longest essays he has written in his time, "Jarrell wrote (it runs to forty-eight pages in The Third Book of Criticism), The Man Who Loved Children, some measure of envy and self reproach when reading Jarrell(Leithauser). Randall Jarrell's love for writing has come a long way in his life, and he has accomplished so much in doing so. Some of Jarrell's books that were criticized on have been collected in Poetry and the Age (1953), A Sad Heart at the Supermarket (1962), and The Third Book of Criticism (1969)(Jarrell). Non of Jarrell's poems were published in 2000, the only completed set of poems were last published in 1969(Jarrell).

Over the years as being a professional writer everyone knew him for his great story writings. Of course Jarrell had his ups and downs, but he eventually over came each of them and kept his head held high. "Two decades following the war, there was no readable and influential poetic critic"(Parrish), though people perceived Jarrell as a dark writer, there was a poet who was even more darker than he was. This poet was Elizabeth Bishop, she mainly wrote about dark, tragic things, and Jarrell really didn't mind because he was busy at the time writing children's books which are still in print and delight young readers(Parrish). As Jarrell served as a critic of the "Yale Review" (1955-1957), Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1956-1958), and member of the Editorial Board of "American Scholar" (1957-1965), through all of Jarrell's editorial writings in 1958 he was promoted to Professor of English at Women's College, UNC(Parrish).

Looking at what Randall Jarrell has accomplished and how it was an impact on writers all over the world, it makes me have more appreciation for every writer. I never knew all the hard work it took and putting just one story let alone hundreds of stories together. With every piece of work that is put together takes time, but what it can become is so much greater than it staying on paper forever and not getting published. Jarrell is a great writer and and even though he has passed on, he has also passed on something much greater to many people all around the world.

Works Cited

Jarrell, Randall. "Britannica Biographies", 10/1/2010. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO.Web.23. Apr.2011.

Leithauser, Brad. "No other book':Randall Jarrell's Criticism." New Criterion 17.8(1999):19.MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO.Web.23.Apr.2011.

Parrish, Ann. "Randall Jarrell." Randall Jarrell (9781429814430)(2005): 1. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web.23. Apr.2011.

Picture Cited

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap10/jarrell.html

American Poetic Critic

An American Poet such as Randall Jarrell, has many stories to tell, and share with the world. Jarrell was always interested in writing poetry about World War II, because he had joined the United States Army Air Corps. Though Jarrell remained a poet in the Military, he has always kept himself a part of the Military life style. Jarrell was also interested in Children's books as well as writing short stories around the 1960's.

In 1995 Jarrell wrote a few poems that became best sellers, "Little Friend, Little Friend, "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", and also Eighth Air Force" (Parrish). These are just a few War poems he has written in his life time while he was in the Military. Some of the topics he used was military routine and human loss (Parrish). "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", which I have read in my English class was a very elaborate poem, for being only five of six lines. This poem expresses pain in dying, and being reborn, as in the solider dying by this gun and being washed out like a new born coming out the womb. Very detailed and easily understandable and know what he's meaning about this solider dying by this tank gun. Reading this poem by Randall Jarrell, made me want to know more about why he a wrote a piece like this in the first place and to see if his other writings were the same way. Jarrell has written many poems I just haven't got around to read some of them, but now I know who he is more I am definitely going to read his best selling works of poetry. Nearly fifty of Jarrells War poems did not come out smoothly, most of the poems triggered battle in dramatic settings (Goldensohn). The poems that didn't get Jarrell anywhere were his poems, "Pilots, Man Your Planes", "The Dead Wing man", and a few others that struggled to become selling poems. Throughout his life Experiencing, and how he viewed things made him write these things, because he wanted others to know how he felt, and that War is not a game. Jarrell as a critic, always was criticized by other writers who loved his work or writers who just hated his work.

Though his life didn't revolve around War all the time, War was the first poems he had ever tried writing about. Even though some of his writings weren't a success, most of them became best sellers to critics all around the world. Not just writing adult poetry, Jarrell has also moved to writing children's books as well, and those have become a great success in his life time. One of his best selling children's books was, "The Bat Poet" that he published in 1964, The Gingerbread Rabbit in 1963, and the last one is "The Animal Family" in 1965 (Parrish). These poems dealt with his child hood and his teenage years. Jarrell also had written many short stories in his life time, but eventually couldn't write any more, because he came down with a disorder (now called bipolar) and had to return back to teach. Though he still taught, everyone still read his stories and even today they still do, he's in the Literature work books as well as teachers work books in college.

Works Cited

Goldensohn, Lorrie. "RANDALL JARRELL'S WAR." War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 11.1 (1999): 42. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 APR. 2011.

Parrish, Ann. "Randall Jarrell". Randall Jarrell (9781429814430) (2005): 1. MasterFILE. Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 APR. 2011.

Picture Cited

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap10/jarrell.html

Life of Randall Jarrell

Many authors of poetry have thousands of stories to tell. Most of their poems are stories of life experiences they have had growing up. But how do these stories come about? Randall Jarrell remembers everything from his childhood to his adult life, and even writes poems about it, some are even personal because he talks about his parents separation at one time.

Randall Jarrell was born on May 6, 1914 in Nashville Tennessee, where he later in 1914 moved to Long Beach California (Jarrell). Randall Jarrell is the son of Owen Jarrell and Anna Campbell who also had another son Charles who was born in 1915 (Jarrell). As a result of moving to Long Beach California, his parents divorced leaving him and his brother in Hollywood living with their grandparents. Growing up you would think you would spend time with friends or hangout playing games or something, but not in Jarrell's mind. From 1927 to 1931 he attended Hume Fogg High School and was involved in extracurricular activities suchas tennis, drama, and journalism (Parrish). Jarrell spent a great amount of his time in libraries and writing stories alone in his room. In 1935 Jarrell graduated from Vanderbilt University where he then later moved in 1939 and taught English at the University of Texas (Jarrell). Randall Jarrell did eventually marry in 1940, but they didn't want any children; he married to a woman named Mackie Langham.

As a young American writer, Jarrell wasn't always spending his time behind a desk with a pen and a pad of paper jotting all of his thoughts down. Randall Jarrell had joined the U.S Army Air Forces, where he was in "noncombatant capacity", but served as a stateside flight instructor (Goldensohn). That's why Jarrell writes about war like things, because from what he has seen, and talking to his mates about the things that happen within battle. "No American poet captured scenes from World War II in more memorable verse than did Randall Jarrell." Jarrell will always be remembered for his great writings and what he accomplished over his life. On October 14, 1965, Jarrell was killed by an automobile in Chapel Hill N.C., several months after recovering from a nervous breakdown. His death was thought to be at first suicide, but later ruled as an accident. No one will forget his writings and still to this day many people read Jarrell's stories and many college level English classes present these writings.

Works Cited

Goldensohn, Lorrie. "Randall Jarrell's War." War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 11.1 (1991): 42. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web.11 APR. 2011.

Parrish, Ann. "Randall Jarrell." Randall Jarrell (9781429814430) (2005): 1. Master FILE premier. EBSCO. Web. 11 APR. 2011.

"Randall Jarrell." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981. Gale Biography in Context. Web. 11 APR. 2011.

Picture Cited

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reben/pal/chap10/jarrell.html

Perspective of Literature

Reading different literary works by different authors makes you look at how they write a literary piece, and what they are trying to say within their writitngs. The meaning of what they write can touch you in many ways either it be sad, happy, or even a devistating or tragic piece of work. What I like about literature is that you can chose who you want to talk about or what writing to talk about, and you can express it in any way you feel. The author of a poetic piece that I was really interested in and wanted to know more about was Randall Jarrell. Seeing his short poems or other literary works especially the poem "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", makes me want to know more about who he is as a person, what made him start writing these short but elaborate pieces. Not just looking at who he is or how he started writing, but different writing pieces that he wrote that were best sellers, and did these literary works come from his life or just others around. This will make me look at literature writings and Randall Jarrell in a whole new way, and just learning new things in the process that I never knew before.