Charles Simic is widely recognized as one of the most unique poets writing today. Simic's work has won numerous
awards, and 1990 Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and
the Wallace Stevens Award and appointment as US Poet Laureate.
Charles Simic was born on May 9, 1938, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he had a traumatic childhood during World War II.
His family was forced to evacuate their home several times to escape bombing, as he has put it, "My travel agents were
Hitler and Stalin". Simic's father left the country for work in Italy, and his mother tried several times to follow, only to be turned
back by authorities. When Simic was fifteen, his mother finally arranged for …show more content…
Simic began college at the University of Chicago, but was
drafted into the armed service in 1961. Finally he earned his bachelor's degree from New York University in 1966. His first
full-length collection of poems, "What the Grass Says", was published in the 1962. Semic's work, including both original
poetry in English and translations of important Yugoslavian poets, began to attract critical attention.
The Voice Literary Supplement reviewer Matthew Flamm contended that Simic was writing "about bewilderment, about
being part of history's comedy act, in which he grew up half-abandoned in Belgrade and then became, with his Slavic
accent, an American poet".
Simic's work defies easy categorization. Some poems reflect a metaphysical bent and others realistic portraits of violence
and despair. Charles Simic once remarked "it" was the most interesting world in the language. His fascination with the world of
objects is an integral part of his poetics and of his metaphysics as well. Simic's poems are filled with forks and spoons, crumbs
and mangy dogs, children's toys, and stones. This study seeks to examine the metaphysical inquiries in Simic's poetry
awards, and 1990 Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and
the Wallace Stevens Award and appointment as US Poet Laureate.
Charles Simic was born on May 9, 1938, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he had a traumatic childhood during World War II.
His family was forced to evacuate their home several times to escape bombing, as he has put it, "My travel agents were
Hitler and Stalin". Simic's father left the country for work in Italy, and his mother tried several times to follow, only to be turned
back by authorities. When Simic was fifteen, his mother finally arranged for …show more content…
Simic began college at the University of Chicago, but was
drafted into the armed service in 1961. Finally he earned his bachelor's degree from New York University in 1966. His first
full-length collection of poems, "What the Grass Says", was published in the 1962. Semic's work, including both original
poetry in English and translations of important Yugoslavian poets, began to attract critical attention.
The Voice Literary Supplement reviewer Matthew Flamm contended that Simic was writing "about bewilderment, about
being part of history's comedy act, in which he grew up half-abandoned in Belgrade and then became, with his Slavic
accent, an American poet".
Simic's work defies easy categorization. Some poems reflect a metaphysical bent and others realistic portraits of violence
and despair. Charles Simic once remarked "it" was the most interesting world in the language. His fascination with the world of
objects is an integral part of his poetics and of his metaphysics as well. Simic's poems are filled with forks and spoons, crumbs
and mangy dogs, children's toys, and stones. This study seeks to examine the metaphysical inquiries in Simic's poetry