Overview
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
DeGolyer Library
Collection on Amy Clampitt
1938-1998
4 boxes (4 linear feet)
Amy Clampitt worked as a librarian, freelance editor, and writer who achieved critical acclaim beginning in the 1980s. This collection show Clampitt's evolution as a poet and consists of two boxes of periodicals, proof copies, and sound recordings of Clampitt's work.
A2008.0010
Material is in English
Biographical Note
Amy Clampitt (June, 1920-September, 1994) grew up in the Quaker community of New Providence, Iowa. She wrote Shakespearean sonnets as a young girl, but by the time she attended Grinnell College she had decided that being a poet was untenable. After graduating with honors, she pursued graduate studies at Columbia University briefly and then turned to publishing. She worked at Oxford University Press for five years; gave herself five months of travel abroad; and then returned to New York City to work as a reference librarian, freelance editor, and writer.
Her first collection, privately printed, appeared in 1973. The New Yorker published a poem in 1979. Only with The Kingfisher in 1983 did Clampitt’s work receive regular trade publication. Critics deemed it a brilliant debut. Edmund White accorded The Kingfisher four pages of praise in The New York Review of Books. Helen Vendler placed in her the company of Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton.
She confessed in an interview the avalanche of attention intimidated her, but she plunged into the business of being a poet with brio. In the short decade left to her, three more collections followed, as did a collection of critical essays, a translation of two cantos of Dante’s Inferno, and interviews and appearances in numerous journals. She edited, offered praise to other poets' titles, and appeared at poetry readings and celebrations. She taught at the College of William and Mary, Smith, and Amherst Colleges.
Clampitt accumulated the following honors: A Guggenheim Fellowship, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in the American Academy of Poets. A MacArthur Fellowship enabled her to buy her first home in Lenox, Massachusetts. In June 1994 she and her longtime companion Harold Korn married. In September of 1994 she succumbed to cancer.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The collection on Amy Clampitt displays Clampitt’s evolution as a poet. The materials primarily date from 1979 through the late 1990s, with a few early examples of Clampitt’s poetry. The collection showcases Clampitt’s rise to fame in the later years of her life. Included in the collection are two sound recordings of Clampitt reading her poetry and an instrumental piece based on Clampitt’s poetry.
Arrangement of the Collection
The collection is organized into 1 series:
- Series 1: Amy Clampitt
Related Materials
Sue Tullos papers, DeGolyer Library, A2008.0015c
Access to Collection:
Collection is open for research use.
Publication Rights:
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
Copyright Statement:
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Clampitt, Amy.
Women authors, American -- 20th century.
Women poets, American -- 20th century.
Poetry, American -- 20th century.
Poems.
Proofs.
Sound recordings.
Preferred Citation
Collection on Amy Clampitt, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 2008.
Processing Information
A checklist to the collection was provided by the dealer. The items were placed into folders and arranged chronologically by Holly Gerber.
Finding aid written by
Holly Gerber, 2009.
All descriptive elements are provided by the dealer.
Encoded by
Lara Corazalla, 2009.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series 1:
Amy Clampitt
This series features materials written by and influenced by Amy Clampitt.
11Clampitt, Amy. "The Final Payment, A Story." The Tanager XIII, no. 5 (June 1938): pp. 8-12.
12Clampitt, Amy. "The Two Rooms." The Tanager XIV, no. 5 (June 1939): 8-12.
13Clampitt, Amy. "Prelude on a May Afternoon: A Sketch." The Tanager XV, no. 1 (October 1939): 11-13.
14Clampitt, Amy. "Faithful, in My Fashion: An Essay." The Tanager XV, no. 1 (June 1940): 3-4.
15Clampitt, Amy. "The Envious Night: A Story: Part One." The Tanager XVI, no. 1 (October 1940): 13-21.
16Clampitt, Amy. "The Envious Night: A Story: Part Two." The Tanager XVI, no. 2 (December 1940): 14-25.
17Clampitt, Amy. "Gunderson’s Bar, A Sketch." The Tanager XXI, no. 3 (February 1946): 10-13.
18Clampitt, Amy. "Two Rooms." Centennial Edition, The Tanager (1946): 42-44. 1/1,000 copies, this being copy no. 101.
Clampitt’s contributions to The Tanager reflect her interest in prose and fiction. While she turned away from short fiction in favor of poetry, she continued to write essays and short pieces of prose throughout her career. We understand she published one poem in an issue of The Tanager, which, if correct, we have been unable to unearth. Given the writer’s relatively long incubation period as a poet, these early writings are especially of interest. These contributions are uncollected.
19Clampitt, Amy. "The Cove." The New Yorker, March 19, 1979.
First appearance of "The Cove," p. 44. Cover art by Gretchen Dow Simpson. One of the poet's early appearances in The New Yorker. The poem begins Kingfisher. Also in this issue, a poem by Howard Moss, pieces by Mark Strand, Laura Furman, V.S. Pritchett, et al.
110Clampitt, Amy. "Mysterious Britain." The American Scholar 48, no. 4 (Autumn 1979): 471.
Believed to be the first and only printing of "Mysterious Britain" (pp. 471-471). Another poem which emerged in Clampitt's breakthrough year. In 1979 Joseph Epstein served as editor of The American Scholar and Helen Vendler on its editorial board. Amy Clampitt omitted "Mysterious Britain" from her first major trade collection, The Kingfisher. It remains uncollected.
111Clampitt, Amy. "Ladies' Tresses." The New Yorker, May 14, 1979.
First printing of "Ladies' Tresses" (p. 153). Glossy wrappers (stapled) with color illustration by Eugène Mihaesco at the front cover. Collected as "The Smaller Orchid" in The Kingfisher. In addition to the change in title, Clampitt also slightly altered the verse's line endings with "if you hug the ground close / enough, in a powerful" becoming "if you hug the ground / close enough, in a powerful."
112Clampitt, Amy. "Keats and the Elgin Marbles." The Kenyon Review n.s. V, no. 2 (Spring 1983): 14-18.
First publication of Clampitt's poem, "Keats and the Elgin Marbles." This issue also prints Dana Gioia’s "The Dilemma of the Long Poem", David Ignatow’s "Mythic Autobiography", and Eudora Welty’s "That Bright Face Is Laughing."
113Clampitt, Amy. The Kingfisher: Poems by Amy Clampitt. Uncorrected Proofs. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.
114Clampitt, Amy. Hippocrene. North Bennington, Vermont: White Creek Press, 1983.
First printing, 1/220 copies. In blue ink at last page below colophon, "Slowly / dissolution / consciousness / over." Printed "on the occasion of a reading by the poet at Bennington College, November 17, 1983". Printed in The New Yorker in the February 4, 1985 issue and collected in Archaic Figure.
115Clampitt, Amy. Homage to John Keats. Corrected Galleys. n.p., 1984.
Corrected galleys for the Sarabande Press publication, with a transmittal note to Joe Marc Freedman. Each galley marked "Master" and numbered, presumably by the publisher. Occasionally, he poses questions — "should" for "would"?, "was" for "were"? and indicates corrections. The galley for "Epilogue: The Voyage" has the notation, in red ink: "Master galley - All new. Please check carefully." Some Clampitt corrections are simple, such as striking the "h" in "w[h]ithered" or, answering a printer's question. She reworks the lines of "Chichester," however, with considerable effect.
The accompanying note on stationery for The Driskill, Austin, Texas is dated 3/27/84. She writes: "Here are the proofs — I've mulled over them long enough so I think I've caught everything. Please note question mark (underscored) to be added — "The Elgin Marbles." I'm having a fine time. It is summer here.... Love, Amy." Original mailing envelope accompanies.
116Clampitt, Amy. "Street Magnetism." River Styx, no. 15 (1984): 35. Also includes "Eleusis" p. 36-37.
Interviews with and work by Margaret Atwood, Carolyn Forché, Pamela Hadas, and Adrienne Rich. "Eleusis" appears to be uncollected.
117Clampitt, Amy. "The Poetry of Tire-Urns." The Harbor Review, no. 4 (1984): 44-45.
First and, possibly, only printing of "The Poetry of Tire-Urns." Published shortly after The Kingfisher’s great success. The verse does not appear in later volumes issued by Knopf and is uncollected. This issue of The Harbor Review also includes two poems by Marge Piercy : "Breaking Out" and "The Annuity."
118Clampitt, Amy. What the Light Was Like. Uncorrected Proof. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
119Clampitt, Amy. Archaic Figure. Uncorrected Proofs. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
21Clampitt, Amy. Arvon Foundation 1985 Anthology. Selected by Amy Clampitt, Anne Stevenson, and Craig Raine. [London]: Arvon Foundation, 1987.
First edition. Amy Clampitt served with Anne Stevenson and Craig Raine as judge for The Observer and Ronald Duncan Foundation International Poetry Competition 1985 on behalf of the Arvon Foundation.
With materials from the Arvon Foundation competition: (1) Photostatic copies of correspondence between David Pease and Amy Clampitt regarding her serving as a judge; (2) two leaflets with information on the competition; (3) copies of related newspaper clippings — "Piles of Poems," Evening Courier, January 29, 1985; newspaper notice of the competition; "Do these objects make a world?", a review of What the Light Was Like by John Hildebidle; "In search of a 5,000 [pound] poem" with profiles of short-listed candidates and a picture of the judges captioned "Looking for inspiration."
22Clampitt, Amy. "Man Feeding Pigeons: II" Green Mountains Review, (Spring/Summer 1987): 87.
First appearance of the poem. Also includes Denise Levertov’s "The Winter Stars" and William Stafford’s "Report from K-9 Operator Rover on the Motel at Grand Isle". "Man Feeding Pigeons: II" is not in Collected Poems.
23Clampitt, Amy. Amy Clampitt. Read by the author. Introduction by Seamus Heaney. New York: The Academy of American Poets, December 1, 1987.
A recording on Amy Clampitt's reading at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Her first selection is Howard Moss' "Tourists" and she follows with some of her best known poems, such as "Archaic Figure," "The Kingfisher" and "What the Light Was Like". The accompanying leaf prints the disk's contents, track by track.
24Clampitt, Amy. "The Kingfisher." The Academy of American Poets: Audio Archive Anthology Volume 1. Read by the author. New York: The Academy of American Poets, 1987.
Amy Clampitt introducing and then reading "The Kingfisher." 27 selections from the archives of the Academy of American Poets. Among the poets included: Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, John Berrymore, Richard Wilbur, Denise Levertov, John Ashbery, and Gwendolyn Brooks. The accompanying leaf prints the disk's contents, track by track.
25Clampitt, Amy. Amy Clampitt. New York: Dia Art Foundation, 1988.
First edition, 1/350 copies. Stiff decorated gray and white wrappers, a yellow 'label' at the front cover reading "Dia Art Foundation - New York / Amy Clampitt."
A Reed Foundation Poetry Chapbook. "Published on the occasion of a reading of these poems by the poet on May 18, 1988." The chapbook prints: "Times Square Water Music"; "Beach Glass"; "Perseus"; "Dodona: Asked of the Oracle"; "Babel Aboard the Hellas International Express"; "Lindenbloom"; "Winchester: The Autumn Equinox"; "Witness"; and "Urn-Burial and the Butterfly Migration."
26Clampitt, Amy. "Amy Clampitt Introduces Seamus Heaney." Envoy, no. 51 (1988):6-7.
First appearance of "Amy Clampitt Introduces Seamus Heaney," pp. [6-7]. Folio: 11 x 8-1/2," 8 pp; printed in maroon ink, with blue highlights, on pale pink stock. "Thank you / Christian" in pencil at upper left corner first page. Illus. with photographs and a line drawing.
Envoy records: "On March 3, 1987, The Academy of American Poets presented Seamus Heaney at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in its 'Education of the Poet' series. On this occasion, Amy Clampitt introduced Mr. Heaney with the following remarks." Clampitt, in her brief introduction, touches on Heaney's salient features as a poet. She also glances at how poetical influences effect succeeding generations, a theme she develops more fully in the essays gathered in Predecessors, Etcetera. She remarks: "I've felt as never before how deeply embedded we are, those of us who care for it at all, in the literature of the past. So I come upon a passage in Wallace Stevens's 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven' about trees dropping their leaves, which takes me back to Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind,' which traces to the passage in Paradise Lost about the leaves of Vallembrosa, which in turn goes back to the third canto of the Inferno, and so on back to the Aeneid and the Odyssey." Clampitt reworked this introduction for the Predecessors essay. A photograph of Amy Clampitt and Seamus Heaney accompanies the article.
27Clampitt, Amy. "The Matter and the Manner: Another Look at the ‘Poetry’ of Marianne Moore." Special Poetry Issue, The Cream City Review 12, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 4-15. Also includes "Mulciber at West Egg" p. 171.
The "Contributors" notes indicate Clampitt joined in a centenary celebration of Marianne Moore in 1987. Immediately following her essay is one by J.D. McClatchy on Clampitt: "Amy Clampitt: The Mirroring Marryings."
28Disch, Tom. "At the Grave of Amy Clampitt." Shenandoah. XXXVIII, no. 4 (1988): 34.
First appearance of this send-up of Clampitt's verse. Disch parodies Clampitt's distinctive verse, with his title a reference to her poem, "At the Grave of George Eliot."
29Clampitt, Amy. "Lines Written the Week Wall Street Went Haywire." Just Like a Woman. Greenville County Museum of Art, March 15 - May 15, 1988. 77.
Only edition, bright purplish-pink glossy wrappers lettered in black. Illustrated with color photographs of works by participating artists such as Jennifer Bartlett, Lee Bontecou, Lee Krasner, Alice Neel, Cindy Sherman, et al. The exhibition Just Like a Woman displayed "works by outstanding American women in the visual arts since 1944." On display along with the sculptures, drawings and paintings were essays, stories and poems by Maxine Kumin ("The Bangkok Gong"), Linda Pastan ("After the Funeral"), and Carole Oles ("How I Sang"), and others. Foreword by Sue Lile Inman, Managing Editor of Emrys Journal and "Museum Foreword" by Tom Styron, Executive Director, Greenville County Museum of Art. Clampitt’s contribution is uncollected.
210The Poets' Theatre Celebrates The T.S. Eliot Centennial. Cambridge, MA: 1988.
Small broadside: stiff white stock printed in black. Illustrated with a drawing by Edward Gorey. The broadside advertises an evening with "readings from Eliot's poetry and plays, a staged reading of Sweeney Agonistes, Eliot's correspondence with Groucho Marx, poems in musical Settings, & more." Among those participating, in addition to Amy Clampitt: William Alfred, Robert Brustein, Stockard Channing, Robert Giroux, Donald Hall, Anthony Hecht, Robert Pinsky, Christopher Ricks, Derek Walcott, Sam Waterston and Irene Worth.
211Clampitt, Amy. "The Prairie." The Borzoi Reader 2, no. 1 (February 12, 1990): 25.
With the first section of "The Prairie" from her forthcoming collection Westward. A handsome preview of Knopf's spring 1990 list. Also included are excerpts from books by Alice Munro, Friends of My Youth, Lorrie Moore, Like Life, Peter Mayle, Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Frederick Busch, Harry and Catherine.
212Clampitt, Amy. Westward: Poems by Amy Clampitt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Presentation copy to fellow poet William Jay Smith.
First edition, paperback issue. Amy Clampitt inscribed the copy at the half title page: "For William Jay Smith / with much admiration / and best wishes always — / Amy Clampitt / 2 November 1990.
Accompanying is a copy of a typed letter Smith sent in acknowledgment, quoting lines of verse he especially liked. Also present are two pages of Smith’s notes on Westward on yellow lined paper. The notes are succinct: annotations of pages, the names of poems, partial lines — presumably those which particularly struck him. A fine association copy.
213Feshbach, Oriole Farb. Illuminations: Images by Oriole Farb Feshbach for the poem "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower" by William Carlos Williams. With an introduction by Amy Clampitt. New York: Midmarch Arts Press, 1991.
First edition. Inscribed at the title page in black ink: "12/4/91 / for Margery and Irwin / with all good wishes / Oriole Farb Feshbach." Foreword by Stanley Kunitz and Introduction by Amy Clampitt (pp. iv-vi) in which she notes: "Williams is not commonly described, I think, as a poet of nature: but in his passionate concern with the locality he grew up and stayed rooted in, to a degree matched by almost nobody these days, a poet of nature he clearly was."
214Clampitt, Amy. Westward. London: Faber & Faber, (1991).
First English edition. Review copy with publisher's slip laid in. 8vo, 107pp. including "Acknowledgments"; orange and green patterned glossy wrappers (perfect bound) with central lozenge printed in white and black as a label (front and rear covers).
31Clampitt, Amy. "Seed." The Paris Review, no. 124 (Fall 1992): 31-33. Also includes "Matrix" p. 34-38.
First appearance of "Seed" and "Matrix." Also printed are interviews with Italo Calvino and Grace Paley; poetry by Stephen Dobyns, Marilyn Hacker, Rachel Hadas, Sandra McPherson, Mary Oliver and Patricia Smith; and fiction by William Burroughs, Denis Johnson and Morrie Moore.
32Clampitt, Amy. Matoaka: A Poem in Celebration of the Tercentenary of the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Williamsburg, VA: College of William & Mary, 1993.
First edition. Inscribed by Amy Clampitt at the title page: "For Frank Neiman / with best wishes / Amy Clampitt / 8 February 1993." A program for the "Exhibition Opening Earl Greg Swem Library The College of William and Mary February 8, 1993" accompanies. Amy Clampitt served as Writer-in-Residence at William and Mary College in 1984-1985 and subsequently "returned several times for poetry readings and literary festivals." A handsome printing of the poem and one of the scarcer Amy Clampitt titles. The poem was collected in A Silence Opens.
33Clampitt, Amy. "Amherst.: May 15. 1987." Parnassus 18, no. 2 & 19, no. 1 (1993): 379-380.
Amy Clampitt's poem is accompanied by a photographic collage by Oriole Feshbach. "Amherst" originally appeared in Grand Street (Spring, 1989) and was collected in Westward. The collage places portraits of Emily Dickinson and Amy Clampitt side by side. Above are images of the manuscript/typescript of Dickinson's poem and Clampitt's, also side by side, topped by a far view of the Berkshire hills. The collage makes a moving accompaniment to the poem.
34Hosmer, Jr., Robert. "Amy Clampitt The Art of Poetry XLV." The Paris Review 35, no. 126 (Spring 1993): 77-109.
An illuminating interview with the poet, accompanied by a photograph of Amy Clampitt. The article also reproduces a working draft of a Clampitt poem in process.
35Clampitt, Amy. "Lasting the Night." River City 13, no. 2 (Spring 1993): 28-30.
First appearance of Amy Clampitt's essay, "Lasting the Night". With an introduction by Sharon Bryan. Clampitt reflects on her childhood and family, and slow evolution into a poet. Published by W.W. Norton as Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition.
36Clampitt, Amy. "Bayou Afternoon." Everything Comes to Light: A Festschrift for Joy Scantlebury. Edited by Leo Luke Marcello. Lake Charles, LA: The Cramers Press, 1993.
First edition, paperback issue. 1/300 copies, this being copy no. 255. (100 copies issued in cloth).
The following year "Bayou Afternoon" was collected in A Silence Opens.
41Clampitt, Amy. A Silence Opens. Uncorrected Page Proof. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, [ca. 1994].
Text from the flaps printed at a preliminary leaf of the page proofs. The cover describes A Silence Opens as "[h]er fifth distinguished collection."
42Clampitt, Amy. "The Equinoctial Disturbances." The New Yorker, March 14, 1994.
First appearance of "The Equinoctial Disturbances" (p. 66), uncollected.
43Clampitt, Amy. "Syrinx." A 60th Anniversary Celebration: Poems by John Ashbery, Amy Clampitt, Anthony Hecht, Daniel Hoffman, John Hollander, Richard Howard, Stanley Kunitz, William Meredith, James Merrill, W.S. Merwin, Mona Van Duyn, David Wagoner, and Richard Wilbur On the Occasion of a Reading by Chancellors of The Academy of American Poets at the Library of Congress. With an introduction by Rita Dove, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. September 29, 1994.
Only edition, 1/499 copies. Designed and printed by the Oliphant Press. Anthony Hecht contributes the Dedication and James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, the Preface. "Syrinx," first printed in Poetry Review was collected in A Silence Opens published earlier that year. Amy Clampitt died September 10, just two weeks prior to the reading.
44Clampitt, Amy. A Baroque Sunburst. Anchorage, AK: Salmon Run Press, 1995.
First separate edition, no. 38 of 100 copies. Pamphlet, stiff gray wrappers (sewn) illustrated with color image from Scenes from the Life of David Psalter. The image is reproduced again in black opposite the poem. Text printed on brown stock with handmade paper as intermediary leaf between text pages and wrappers. "A Baroque Sunset" originally appeared in The New Yorker and subsequently was collected in What the Light Was Like. At the colophon, the publisher records that "Amy gave permission to reprint this poem in early 1995*, but she passed away before the pamphlet was printed." The pamphlet is the tenth of The Salmon Run Pamphlet Series I which also include pieces by Galway Kinnell, Molly Peacock and Ursula LeGuin. *Presumably a typographical error for "1993."
45Clampitt, Amy. "Pot Nomads." The New Yorker, May 22, 1995.
First appearance of "Pot Nomads" (pp. 72-73), uncollected. Folio, 100pp; glossy wrappers (stapled). A six-stanza poem published in The New Yorker the year after Amy Clampitt's death. It did not appear in Collected Poems, and likely remains unpublished in book form.
46Clampitt, Amy. "Manhattan." Dressing the Text: The Fine Press Artists’ Book. n.p.: The Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz, 1995. p. 35.
A catalogue of an exhibition of recent livres d'artiste organized by The Art Museum of Santa Cruz County and the Printers' Chappel of Santa Cruz. Opening statement by Charles Hilger, as Executive Director of The Art Museum of Santa Cruz County and a word on "The Fine Press Artists' Book" by Gary Young of Greenhouse Review Press. The exhibition opened in Santa Cruz and then traveled to Scripps College, Ohio University (Athens), Minnesota Center for the Book Arts, the Davidson Library, Brown University and finally Mills College. Included is Manhattan by Amy Clampitt printed at the University of Iowa Center for the Book.
47Clampitt, Amy. The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt. Uncorrected Proofs. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
Uncorrected page proofs with dust jacket copy stapled at front cover. With a foreword by colleague and friend Mary Jo Salter. The volume collects poems in titles published by Knopf: The Kingfisher (1983); What the Light Was Like (1985); Archaic Figure (1987); Westward (1990); and A Silence Opens (1994).
48Clampitt, Amy. "The Winter Bird." The New Yorker, December 22 & 29, 1997.
First appearance of "The Winter Bird," p. 68. The annual fiction issue with appearances by Bobbi Ann Mason, Key Kesey, Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, Nick Hornby et al. Also pieces by John Updike, Roger Angell, Steve Martin and a poem by Galway Kinnell. This posthumously published poem is uncollected.
49Raschèr Saxophone Quartet. Grammofon AB BIS, 1997/1998.
Printed notes with German and French translations. Front cover illustration by Peter Schoenecker; rear cover reproduces Mark Tobey's "White Journey."
Among the pieces played is Sidney Corbett's 1995 "Variations on several lines by Amy Clampitt" for saxophone duo. In the notes Corbett writes: "Amy Clampitt, who passed away in 1995, was one of America's greatest and most original poets. Her last published book, A Silence Opens, was the principal source of inspiration for my Variations."