Leo Connellan

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For the Australian politician, see Leo Connellan (politician).

Leo Connellan
Born(1928-11-28)November 28, 1928
Portland, Maine
DiedFebruary 22, 2001(2001-02-22) (aged 72)
Sprague, Connecticut
OccupationBeat Poet, Poet Laureate of Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
Notable awardsShelly Memorial Award

Leo Connellan (November 30, 1928 – February 22, 2001) was an American poet of the Beat Generation born in Portland, Maine, who served as Connecticut's Poet Laureate from 1996 until his death in 2001.

Life[edit]

Leo Connellan grew up in Rockland, Maine, attended the University of Maine and served in the U.S. Army.[1] Mainly in the 1950s, when he was between the ages of 19 and 32, Connellan travelled the contiguous 48 states, going back and forth between New York City and California.[2] At age 32, he married his wife Nancy, and took work as a salesman after his daughter Amy was born, moving his family to Connecticut in 1969 to take over a new sales territory in New England.[3] He lived at the time of his death in Sprague, Connecticut.[4] He was the uncle of Wall Street businessman Peter Connellan.[5]

Work as a poet[edit]

During the 1950s, Leo Connellan lived in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, which puts him in the Beat Generation of poets.[6] Connellan's rough, "everyman" lyricism won him the admiration of such poet-critics as Karl Shapiro,[7] Richard Eberhart,[8] Richard Wilbur,[9] and David B. Axelrod.[10] Connellan won the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America[11] and served as Connecticut's second Poet Laureate from 1996 until his death.[5] His duties in this post were little defined, but Connellan said he saw promoting poetry in schools and supporting new writers as among his most important responsibilities.[12] From 1987 until the time of his death, he was poet-in-residence for the Connecticut State University System.[13] He was designated one of Maine's most prominent poets in the Maine Literary Hall of Fame.[14]

Connellan took among his themes the fishing and lobstering industries in Maine, and the lives of New York commuters.[5] His work featured in anthologies, including Wesley McNair's The Maine Poets: An Anthology of Verse,[15] and the Curbstone Press's Poetry like bread anthology of "poets of the political imagination."[16]

Cover of Crossing America, considered by many to be Connellan at his best.

List of Publications[edit]

  • The Maine Poems (1999)
  • Short Poems, City Poems, 1944--1998 (1998)
  • Provincetown and Other Poems (1995)
  • New and Collected Poems (1989)
  • The Clear Blue Lobster-Water Country: A Trilogy (1985)[17]
  • Shatterhouse (1983)
  • Massachusetts Poems (1981)
  • The Gunman and Other poems (1979)
  • Death in Lobster Land: New Poems (1978)
  • First Selected Poems (1976)[18]
  • Crossing America (1976)
  • Another Poet in New York (1975)
  • Penobscot Poems (1974)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Leo Connellan, Connecticut's poet laureate, 72". New York Times. 24 February 2001. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  2. ^ Wolf, Stephen (2007). I Speak of the City. Connecticut University Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780231140652.
  3. ^ Bernstein, Hattie (10 December 1989). "Poet teaches by example". Sunday Telegraph (Massachusetts).
  4. ^ Weiss, Tara (24 February 2001). "A working man who wrote poetry: Connecticut's poet laureate dies after suffering massive stroke a week ago". Hartford Courant.
  5. ^ a b c Ryan, Bill (23 June 1996). "A poet laureate's voice for the working class". New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Leo Connellan". Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Leo Connellan". Great American Publishing Society.
  8. ^ Battista, Carolyn (2 January 1994). "A down-to-earth poet is an inspiration to students". New York Times. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  9. ^ Dufresne, Bethe (18 April 1996). "Connellan is named state poet laureate". The Day.
  10. ^ Axelrod, David B (Spring 2001). "IN MEMORIUM, LEO CONNELLAN". Poetry Bay. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  11. ^ "Leo Connellan, state poet laureate, 72". Associated Press. 24 February 2001. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  12. ^ Stowe, Stacey (19 March 2000). "It's official: fossil, bug, and bird, but dirt gets a veto". New York Times.
  13. ^ Smith, Martha (5 February 1995). "Leo Connellan: I write about people who struggle just to stay alive". The Providence Journal.
  14. ^ "Maine Literary Hall of Fame". Maine Literature. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  15. ^ Wesley McNair, ed. (2006). The Maine Poets: An Anthology of Verse. Down East. ISBN 0-89272-708-X.
  16. ^ Zapata, Martin (1994). Poetry like bread. Curbstone Press. ISBN 1-880684-15-2.
  17. ^ Flint, RW (14 July 1985). "Sad and shaggy down east". New York Times.
  18. ^ Carruth, Hayden (23 May 1976). "First selected poems". New York Times.

External links[edit]

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