Amy Clampitt

Portrait of Amy Clampitt
Amy Clampitt 1920–1994
1920Born

Amy Clampitt was born on June 15, 1920, and brought up in New Providence, Iowa. Clampitt was the first born of five children. Both her father and her paternal grandfather were farmers. She graduated from Grinnell College, and from that time on lived mainly in New York City. Her first commercially published volume of poems, The Kingfisher, published in 1983, was followed in 1985 by What the Light Was Like, in 1987 by Archaic Figure, and in 1990 by Westward. A Silence Opens was her last book which appeared in 1994.

She died in September 1994.

From readers

What readers say about Amy Clampitt

  1. On Easter Morning

    “It is the quintessential detective poem, after the death. For it seeks no one, but heightened senses to elevate what has been done--the purest smells, the the loveliest of images--all is calm again, all is bright.”

  2. On The Sun Underfoot Among The Sundews

    “The poem, as you have posted it, contains a typographical error on the fourth line: it should read "sphagnum-lined"--not "sphagnum-lines." I plan to use this site as an example of the unreliability of internet sources with careless editors, as compared to original published texts available in the…”

  3. On Fog

    “Please fix the spelling of O'Keeffe's name. In a song cycle I began with this poem, for baritone and string quartet, I followed it immediately ("attacca," as we say) by "Gradual Clearing." Similarly, I feel that these two wonderful poems should always be anthologized together.”

Where readers gather

Most discussed

  1. Easter Morning4 comments
  2. The Sun Underfoot Among The Sundews2 comments
  3. Beach Glass1 comment
  4. Fog1 comment

All 14 poems

Poems · 14