Ted Kooser: A Major American Poet

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Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, an area within the great plains of America. He credits his influences to both his mother and his father. His father worked as a store manager while his mother stayed home to raise him and his sister. During an interview he was asked how his parents influenced his poetry, he replied, "My Father was a storekeeper, loved the public, and was a marvelous storyteller. I remember a women once said to me that she'd rather hear my dad describe a person than see the person herself." (Meats, 335). One can tell from reading Kooser's poetry that his father influenced him greatly. Ted Kooser also attained a strong work ethic from his father, which in his formative years allowed him to prosper and become the poet he is today. His mother influenced his appreciation for the natural wonders in life. Kooser attended Iowa State University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1962. Upon graduating, he held a teaching job as an English teacher in Madrid, Iowa during the 1962-1963 school year. He soon moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where he was accepted into the University of Nebraska's at Lincoln graduate program for creative writing. He would not immediately graduate from the program, but take a job in the insurance industry where during his tenure, he would become the Vice President for Lincoln Benefit Life.

Ted Kooser is an American poet that draws readers for his simplicity and accessibility written within his poems. His use of metaphors within his verse describes images to the readers that normally wouldn't been seen. His simplicity, not the type that has no substance but simplicity where readers can understand what he is trying to say within the poem due to the realism Kooser writes with. The dicti...

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...long career provides a lighthouse of hope to all artists who labor in the dark, uncertain of their efforts but determined to express their voice." (Schneider, 129).

Works Cited

De Grave, Kathleen. "Delights & Shadows: Poems." Midwest Quarterly 46.4 (2005):

439-440. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Evans, David Allan. "Ted Kooser—An Appreciation." Midwest Quarterly 46.4 (2005):

356-359. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

Meats, Stephen. "A Tribute To Ted Kooser: An Interview With Ted Kooser.(Interview)."

The Midwest Quarterly 4 (2005): 335. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

Schneider, Steven P. "Kooser, Ted (1939—)." American Writers: A Collection of

Literary Biographies, Supplement 19. Ed. Jay Parini. Detroit: Charles Scribner's

Sons, 2010. 115-130. Scribner Writers on GVRL. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

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