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Edward Hirsch

Poet and President of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

Edward Hirsch's first collection of poems, "For the Sleepwalkers," was published in 1981 and went on to receive the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University. His second collection, Wild Gratitude (1986), received the National Book Critics Circle Award. Since then, he has published several books of poems, including "Special Orders" (2008) and "Lay Back the Darkness" (2003). His latest book, "The Living Fire" (2010), his first retrospective collection, selects from each of his seven previous collections, published between 1981 and 2008.

He has been a professor of English at Wayne State University and the University of Houston. Hirsch is currently the president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, as well as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

What Keeps Edward Hirsch Up At Night

The poet finds himself shadowed by his own dream.

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2 min

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A Poet’s Legacy

A man who’d like to be remembered as a passionate poet who kept what John Keats called the holiness of the heart’s affections.

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2 min

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Edward Hirsch Reads Aloud

Edward Hirsch shares an original poem.

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1 min

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Poets v. Prose Writers

Edward Hirsch had too much adrenaline to construct stories.

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6 min

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How to Read a Poem

More than anything, it’s a genre that relies on its readers.

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4 min

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Do MFA Programs Hurt Poetry?

Culture can’t absorb that many people trying to earn their living in poetry.

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5 min

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Embracing the Mess of Poetry

Edward Hirsch reflects on his ever-changing process of creation.

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8 min

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As a young child, Edward Hirsch mistook Emily Bronte’s work for his grandfather’s.

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8 min

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Big Think Interview With Edward Hirsch

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35 min

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