Howard, Richard

Howard, Richard

(Richard Joseph Howard), 1929–, American poet, translator, and essayist, b. Cleveland, studied Columbia (B.A. 1951), the Sorbonne, Paris. Beginning with Quantities (1962), he has written nearly 20 volumes of poetry, many of them in the form of dramatic monologues by figures from literature and history. Among his books of verse are Untitled Subjects (1969; Pulitzer Prize), Misgivings (1969), No Traveller (1989), Trappings (1999), Without Saying (2008), and A Progressive Education (2014). Howard, a distinguished translator of French literature, is credited with introducing both modern French poetry and the nouveau roman to American audiences. His most acclaimed translations include Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil, tr. 1982, American Book Award) and Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma (tr. 1999). His critical works include Alone with America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States since 1950 (1969). He has taught at Yale, the universities of Cincinnati and Houston, and Columbia.

Howard, Richard (Joseph)

(1929– ) poet, critic, translator; born in Cleveland, Ohio. As a poet he became known for his historical dramatic monologues; Untitled Subjects (1969) won a Pulitzer Prize. His many translations introduced modern French fiction to American audiences; his verse translation of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (1983) won an American Book Award.