Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was an important 2nd generation American modernist poet who was a crucial link between earlier figures like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, a rubric which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance. Subsequently, many postmodern groups, such as the poets of the Language School, include Olson as a primary and precedent figure. He is credited as one of the thinkers who coined the term postmodern. December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (362nd in leap years). ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Mountebanks ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ... William Carlos Williams Dr. William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with Modernism and Imagism. ... The New American Poetry 1945-1960 was a poetry anthology edited by Donald Allen, and published in 1960. ... The New York School was an informal group of American poets and painters active in 1950s New York City. ... The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called the Projectivist poets, were a group of mid 20th century American avant-garde or postmodern poets centered around Black Mountain College. ... Beating is striking more than once, in violence, beating a drum, etc. ... The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centred around that city and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetic avant-garde. ... A language school is where one can learn a foreign language. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Early life and politics

Olson was born and grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied at Wesleyan University and Harvard. Attracted by the social and political ideas of Franklin D. Roosevelt, he joined the American Civil Liberties Union in 1941. He worked in the Office of War Information until 1944, when he left because of censorship of his news releases. Olson then decided to dedicate himself to writing. Nickname: The Heart of the Commonwealth, The City of the Seven Hills, Wormtown, Woo-town, Wortown (war-town), The City of Diners, Paris of the Eighties Settled: 1673 â€“ Incorporated: 1684 Zip Code(s): 01608 â€“ Area Code(s): 508 / 774 Official website: http://www. ... Wesleyan University founded in 1831, is a private, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major national non-profit organization based in New York City, whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a government agency created during World War II to consolidate government information services. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ...

Early writings

Olson's first book was Call Me Ishmael (1947), a study of Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick which was based on his unsubmitted Harvard Ph.D. thesis. In Projective Verse, Olson called for a poetic metre based on the breath of the poet and an open construction based on sound and the linking of perceptions rather than syntax and logic. The poem 'The Kingfishers', first published in 1949 and collected in his first book of poetry, In Cold Hell, in Thicket (1953), is an outstanding application of the manifesto. His second collection, The Distances was published in 1960. Olson served as rector of the Black Mountain College from 1951 to 1956. During this period, the college supported work by John Cage, Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Duncan, Jonathan Williams, Ed Dorn and many other members of the 1950s American avant garde. 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Herman Melville Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, essayist and poet. ... Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. ... In literature, meter or metre (sometimes known as prosody) is a term used in the scansion (analysis into metrical patterns) of poetry, usually indicated by the kind of feet and the number of them. ... Syntax, originating from the Greek words συν (syn, meaning co- or together) and τάξις (táxis, meaning sequence, order, arrangement), can in linguistics be described as the study of the rules, or patterned relations that govern the way the words in a sentence come together. ... Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, (but coming to mean thought or reason) is most often said to be the study of criteria for the evaluation of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy among philosophers. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... This article is in need of attention. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Cage For the character of John Cage from the TV show Ally McBeal see: John Cage (Character) John Milton Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American experimental music composer, writer and visual artist. ... Robert Creeley (May 21, 1926 - March 30, 2005) was an American poet, author of more than sixty books, and usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that schools. ... Allen Ginsberg in later life Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American Beat poet born in Newark, New Jersey. ... Robert Duncan (January 7, 1919 – February 3, 1988), was an American poet associated with the Black Mountain poets and the beat generation. ... Jonathan Williams (born 1929) is an American poet, publisher, essayist, and photographer. ... Edward Dorn (1929-1999) was a United States poet who was associated with the Black Mountain poets. ...

The Maximus Poems

In 1950, inspired by the example of Pound's Cantos, Olson began writing The Maximus Poems, a project that was to remain unfinished at the time of his death. An exploration of American history in the broadest sense, Maximus is also an epic of place, Massachusetts and specifically the city of Gloucester where Olson had settled. The work is also mediated through the voice of Maximus, based partly on Maximus of Tyre, an itinerant Greek philosopher and partly on Olson himself. The final, unfinished volume imagines an ideal Gloucester in which communal values have replaced commercial ones. 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... (Note: unrelated to The Cantos by Ezra Pound) Cantos (http://www. ... Pre-Colonial America For details, see the main Pre-Colonial America article. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  Ranked 44th  - Total 10,555 sq. ... Settled: 1623 â€“ Incorporated: 1642 Zip Code(s): 01930 â€“ Area Code(s): 351 / 978 Official website: http://www. ... Cassius Maximus Tyrius (Maximus of Tyre), a Greek rhetorician and philosopher who flourished in the time of the Antonines and Commodus (2nd century A.D). ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ...

Selected bibliography

• The Maximus Poems (Berkeley, Calif. and London, 1983)
• The Collected Poems of Charles Olson (Berkeley, 1987)
• Collected Prose, eds. Donald Allen and Benjamin Friedlander (Berkeley, 1997)
• Human Universe and Other Essays, ed. Donald Allen (Berkeley, 1965)
• Charles Olson and Robert Creeley: The Complete Correspondence, ed. George F. Buttrick and Richard Blevins, 9 vols. (Berkeley, 1980-90)

External links

• Olson at Modern American Poetry
• Olson at EPC
• OlsonNow a blog on the poetry and poetics of Charles Olson, edited by Michael Kelleher and Ammiel Alcalay
• A web guide to Charles Olson from literaryhistory.com