Richard Howard
Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022;[1] adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz) was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied under Mark Van Doren,[2] and where he was an emeritus professor. He lived in New York City.
For other people named Richard Howard, see Richard Howard (disambiguation).
Richard Howard
March 31, 2022 (aged 92)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Guggenheim Fellowship (1966)
MacArthur Fellows Program (1996)
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1970)
National Book Award (1983)
Personal life[edit]
Richard Howard was born to poor Jewish parents. His last name at birth is unknown. He was adopted as an infant by Emma Joseph and Harry Orwitz, a middle-class Cleveland couple, who were also Jewish; his mother changed their last names to "Howard" when he was an infant after she divorced Orwitz. Howard never met his birth parents, nor his sister, who was adopted by another local family.[7] Howard was gay, a fact that comes up frequently in his later work.[8] He was out to some degree since at least the 1960s, when he remarked to friend W. H. Auden that he was offended by a fellow poet's use of Jewish and gay epithets, "since [he was] both these things", to which Auden replied, "My dear, I never knew you were Jewish!"[7]
Howard was renowned for the extreme number of books that he had collected over his lifetime and which famously lined the walls of his New York City apartment. Additionally, he kept on his bed, a large stuffed gorilla named "Mildred".[4]