Bollingen Prize for Poetry
Description
História e Fundação
O Bollingen Prize for Poetry é um dos mais prestigiados prémios literários nos Estados Unidos, focado exclusivamente na poesia. Foi estabelecido em 1948 pela Universidade de Yale, com o apoio financeiro da Fundação Bollingen. A sua criação visava honrar e promover a poesia americana, reconhecendo tanto poetas consagrados como aqueles que demonstravam um potencial significativo para moldar o futuro da forma poética.
Critérios e Categorias
Originalmente, o prémio era concedido a uma obra específica de poesia publicada num determinado período. No entanto, a partir de 1963, os critérios foram alterados para premiar a obra de vida de um poeta americano. Esta mudança refletiu um desejo de reconhecer a contribuição contínua e o impacto duradouro de um poeta na paisagem literária.
O prémio é bienal, alternando com o Bollingen Prize in Translation, que reconhece obras de tradução literária. Os critérios de seleção enfatizam a excelência artística, a inovação formal, a profundidade temática e a influência na tradição poética americana. O júri é composto por académicos, críticos e poetas de renome, garantindo uma avaliação rigorosa e informada.
Relevância e Impacto
O Bollingen Prize tem uma importância considerável no mundo literário americano. Ao longo das décadas, premiou alguns dos poetas mais influentes do século XX e XXI, cujas obras continuam a ser estudadas e admiradas. A sua atribuição frequentemente gera debate e atenção mediática, destacando a poesia para um público mais vasto e validando o trabalho dos seus laureados.
A lista de vencedores inclui nomes como T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, e John Ashbery, entre muitos outros. Estes poetas não só definiram a poesia americana moderna, mas também influenciaram gerações subsequentes de escritores. O prémio funciona como um selo de qualidade e um reconhecimento da mestria poética, ajudando a solidificar o lugar dos seus destinatários na história literária.
Curiosidades e Controvérsias
Uma das edições mais notórias do prémio foi em 1949, quando foi atribuído a Ezra Pound. Na altura, Pound estava preso na Europa por traição devido ao seu apoio ao regime fascista de Mussolini durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial. A decisão de premiar Pound gerou um enorme escândalo e controvérsia, dividindo a comunidade literária e o público em geral.
A Universidade de Yale defendeu a decisão, argumentando que o prémio se destinava a honrar a obra poética de Pound, independentemente das suas opiniões políticas. Este episódio sublinha a complexa relação entre arte, política e moralidade, e como os prémios literários podem, por vezes, tornar-se o centro de debates sociais mais amplos.
Outra curiosidade é a natureza bienal do prémio, que permite uma maior profundidade na consideração dos candidatos e uma pausa para reflexão sobre o estado da poesia. A Fundação Bollingen, que financia o prémio, tem um legado significativo no apoio às artes e humanidades, e o prémio de poesia é uma das suas contribuições mais duradouras e impactantes.
Winners
Redd Foxx
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Robert G. Ingersoll
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Vince Lombardi
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Socrates
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Raymond Smullyan
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Raynor Schein
Peter Farquharson
Peter Kunkel
Peter Kropotkin
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Salvador de Madaringa
Denis Johnston
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Katherine Tynan Hinkson
Victoria Holt
Po Bronson
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Kahil Gibran
Porterfield
Polo Hofer
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Pioneer Motto
Anna Jameson
Pliny
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Vijay Krishna
Polly Whitney
Sam Snead
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Plontius
Vidal Sassoon
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Raymond Chandler
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Polish Proverb
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Pindar
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Joseph Fischer
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Piet Mondrian
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Pink Floyd
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Sam Keen
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F. E. Smedley
Plautus
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Victor Salerno
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Anne Bradstreet
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Ann Landers
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Saki
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Pierre Bayle
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Sakshi Tanwar
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Saleh Aburuman
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Anne Brown
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Pinarius
Ray Kurzweil
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Anna Quindlen
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Anna Garlin Spencer
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