The Resume

(August 5, 1889-August 17, 1973)
Born in Savannah, Georgia
Poet, novelist and short story writer
Poetry collections include 'Earth Triumphant and Other Tales in Verse' (1914), 'Turns and Movies and Other Tales in Verse' (1916), 'Nocturne of Remembered Spring and Other Poems' (1917), 'Priapus and the Pool and Other Poems' (1925), 'Selected Poems' (1929), 'Brownstone Eclogues' (1942), 'Skylight One: Fifteen Poems' (1949), 'A Letter from Li Po and Other Poems' (1955), 'Sheepfold Hill: Fifteen Poems' (1958) and 'The Morning Song of Lord Zero: Poems Old and New' (1963)
Wrote the novels 'Blue Voyage' (1927), 'King Coffin' (1934) and 'Ushant' (1952)
Short story collections include 'Bring! Bring!' (1925), 'Among the Lost People' (1934) and 'The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken' (1966)
Poetry Consultant of the Library of Congress (1950-52)

Why he might be annoying:

He was put on academic probation at Harvard for missing too many classes.
During WWI, he claimed a draft exemption on the grounds that he worked in an 'essential industry' -- poetry.
He said his short story 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow' was 'a projection of my own inclination to insanity.'
His opinions became increasingly vitriolic, with one interviewer saying he had 'scarcely a kind word for anybody or anything except comic strips, martinis and Conrad Aiken.'

Why he might not be annoying:

When he was eleven, he heard the shots and discovered the bodies after his father killed his mother and then committed suicide.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry (1930).
He was credited with establishing Emily Dickinson's reputation as a major poet.
Poet Allen Tate called him 'the most versatile man of letters of the century: He has excelled in criticism, in fiction and in poetry.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Poets
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 38]
• Guggenheim Fellowship Grant Recipients
• I am a Unitarian
• I Attempted Suicide and Screwed it Up
• I Attended Harvard
• I Died in 1973 (Ranked: 84)
• I Died in the City I Was Born In
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• My Parent Was Murdered
• My Parents Died at the Same Time
• One of My Parents Committed Suicide
• Poets
• Profiles 31751-32000 (Ranked: 31789)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 14 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying