Randall Jarrell

Randall Jarrell (May 6, 1914 – October 14, 1965) was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, novelist, and the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate.

Read more about Randall Jarrell:  Life, Writing, Bibliography

Famous quotes by randall jarrell:

    They have thrown away her electric toothbrush, someone else slips
    The key into the lock of her safety-deposit box
    At the Crocker-Anglo Bank; her seat at the cricket matches
    Is warmed by buttocks less delectable than hers.
    Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)

    Bunched upside down, they sleep in air.
    Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces
    Are dull and slow and mild.
    All the bright day, as the mother sleeps,
    She folds her wings about her sleeping child.
    Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)

    It was not dying: everybody died.
    Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)

    They said, ‘Here are the maps’; we burned the cities.
    It was not dying—no, not ever dying;
    But the night I died I dreamed that I was dead,
    And the cities said to me: ‘Why are you dying?
    We are satisfied, if you are; but why did I die?’
    Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)

    The wild beasts, sparrows pecking the llamas’ grain,
    Pigeons settling on the bears’ bread, buzzards
    Tearing the meat the flies have clouded. . . .
    Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)