Stephen Burt Named Professor of English at Harvard

Cambridge, Mass. May 5, 2010 - Stephen Burt, a published poet and prolific critic of contemporary poetry whose scholarly interests range across the verse of many nations, has been appointed professor of English at Harvard University. Burt was previously associate professor of English at Harvard, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2007. Before that, he taught for seven years at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., serving as chair of its Department of English from 2005 to 2007. "Professor Burt has distinguished himself internationally as an exceptional analyst and critic of modern and contemporary poetry written throughout the English-speaking world," says Diana Sorensen, dean of arts and humanities in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "He writes copiously and originally about American poetry, but also about the poetry of Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia; he maintains a lively interest in the poetry of Canada, Africa, and India as well. He has his ear to the ground, his eye to the Anglophone world at large, and his mind always passionately focused on new ways of thinking about poetry new and old." Burt has published two books of his own poetry, "Popular Music" (CLP/Colorado, 1999) and "Parallel Play" (Graywolf Press, 2006), and was one of three judges for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.