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:

    In bombers named for girls, we burned
    The cities we had learned about in school—
    Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
    The people we had killed and never seen.
    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)

    We died like aunts of pets or foreigners.
    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)