John Allan Wyeth (poet)

John Allan Wyeth
Late 1970s
Born October 24, 1894
New York City, U.S.
Died May 11, 1981 (1981-05-12) (aged 86)
Resting place Blawenburg Reformed Church Cemetery, Blawenburg, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality American
Education Lawrenceville School
Alma mater Princeton University
Occupation Poet, painter
Parent(s) John Allan Wyeth
Florence Nightingale Sims
Relatives J. Marion Sims (maternal grandfather)
Marion Sims Wyeth (brother)

John Allan Wyeth (October 24, 1894 – May 11, 1981) was an American World War I veteran, war poet, and painter.

Early life

John Allan Wyeth was born on October 24, 1894 in New York City.[1][2] His father, also named John Allan Wyeth, was a Confederate veteran and New York City surgeon.[1][2] His mother, Florence Nightingale Sims, was the daughter of surgeon J. Marion Sims. He had a brother, Marion Sims Wyeth, who designed many mansions in Florida.

Wyeth was educated at the Lawrenceville School, a boarding school in New Jersey.[2] He graduated from Princeton University in 1915.[2] He was a member of the Princeton Charter Club.[2] He taught French in a high school in Mesa, Arizona for a year, until he pursued graduate school at Princeton to become a professor of Romance languages.[2] However, in the wake of World War I, his plan was disrupted and he joined the American Expeditionary Forces as a French translator in 1917.[1] Several decades later, during World War II, he served in the United States Coast Guard.[2]

Career

Wyeth wrote poetry from an early age.[1][2] After World War I, he became known as a war poet.[1] His collection of poems, This Man’s Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets, was published in 1928.[1] It was reviewed in Poetry in December 1932.[3]

"This Man's Army," with a biographical and interpretive introduction by Dana Gioia (which first appeared in the 2008 Summer issue of the Hudson Review), and annotations by BJ Omanson, was re-published in October 2008 by the University of South Carolina Press, as part of Matthew Bruccoli's Great War Series of lost literary classics of World War I.

Wyeth began his painting career under the tutelage of English painter Duncan Grant in 1932.[2] He worked at the Academie Moderne in Paris for six years under Jean Marchand, during which time he also studied graphics with Louis Marcoussis.[2] By 1939, his paintings were exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Frank Rehn Gallery in New York City.[2] He painted Post-Impressionist landscapes.[2]

Works

On To Paris

Light enough now to watch the trees go by--
a sleep like sickness in the rattling train.
Men's bodies joggle on the opposite seat
and tired greasy faces half awake
stir restlessly and breathe a stagnant sigh.
The stale air thickens on the grimy pane
reeking of musty smoke and woolly feet.
Versailles—a bridge of shadow on a lake
dawn-blue and pale, the color of the sky.
Paris at last!--and a great joy like pain
in my heart. We scuffle down the corridor.
"Lieutenant."

  "Sir."

  "In half an hour we meet
at another station—your orders are to take
these men by subway to the Gare du Nord."
[4]

Personal life

Wyeth lived in Providence, Rhode Island.[2] Toward the end of his life he lived with his niece, poet Jane Marion McLean in Princeton, New Jersey.[5]

Death

Wyeth died on May 11, 1981.[1][2] He was buried at the Blawenburg Reformed Church Cemetery in Blawenburg, New Jersey.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "John Allan Wyeth". Discover War Poets. English Association. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Gioia, Dana (Summer 2008). "The Unknown Soldier: The Poetry of John Allan Wyeth". The Hudson Review. 61 (2): 253–268. JSTOR 20464848. (Registration required (help)).
  3. ↑ "Reviewed Work: This Man's Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets by John Allan Wyeth". Poetry. 41 (3): 165–166. December 1932. JSTOR 20578832. (Registration required (help)).
  4. ↑ Wyeth, John Allen. (1928). This Man's Army: A War in Fifty-Odd Sonnets. Harold Vinal, Ltd., New York.
  5. ↑ "Obituaries: John Allen Wyeth, noted area artist". Trenton Times, New Jersey. May 13, 1981.


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