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.
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