埃斯里奇·奈特传记

诗人的传记

埃斯里奇·奈特于1931年4月19日出生在密西西比州的科林斯。他是一个贫穷家庭的七个孩子之一，只完成了九年级的教育。他在台球厅、酒吧和小酒馆工作了许多年，掌握了“说祝酒词”的艺术。祝酒词是来自口头传统的长篇叙事诗，是凭记忆和精神表演的。这种环境磨练了他的诗歌经验，但也使他接触到了毒品。他很小的时候就染上了毒瘾。他加入了美国陆军，在朝鲜战争中担任医疗技术员。1960年，奈特因偷钱包在印第安纳波利斯被捕，被监禁了8年。他在《狱中诗歌》中以韵文的形式叙述了这段经历在《狱中黑人之声》选集(1970;最初在两年前以意大利语出版，名为Voce negre dal care)。 He emerged as the voice of the black aesthetic movement with his first volume of verse Poems from Prison (1968). His poetry was a combination of "toasts" and a concern for freedom from oppression. After his release from prison, Knight taught at various universities and contributed to several magazines, working for two years as an editor of Motive and as a contributing editor of New Letters (1974). He experimented with rhythmic forms of punctuation in Belly Song and Other Poems (1973), which addressed the themes of ancestry, racism, and love in Born of a Woman (1980) - a work that balances personal suffering with affirmation - he introduced the concept of the poet as a "meddler" who forms a trinity with the poem and the reader. Much of his verse was collected in The Essential Etheridge Knight (1986). Knight's books and oral performances awarded him both popular and critical acclaim. He received honors from such institutions as the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Society of America. In 1990 he earned a bachelor's degree in American poetry and criminal justice from Martin Center University in Indianapolis. Etheridge Knight died on March 10, 1991 in Indianapolis, Indiana.