W.D. Snodgrass, full name William De Witt Snodgrass (called Dee by his friends), is credited with being on of the founding members of the "Confessional Poetry" movement, though he resisted being put into the category. He was born in January of 1926 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. His first major breakthrough into poetry, Heart's Needle," was inspired by the loss of his daughter in a divorce. He had a distinguished literary career as a professor at numerous colleges, including Cornell and Rochester, before retiring to write full time in 1994. He never really mastered the concept of marriage for the rest of his life, and had four marriages, the first three ending in divorce and the last ending in his death of lung cancer at the age of 83.
This article gives good overview of Snodgrass' literary career:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/15
This Wikipedia article gives a more in-depth look at Snodgrass' personal life as well as his career:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._Snodgrass
This article gives good overview of Snodgrass' literary career:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/15
This Wikipedia article gives a more in-depth look at Snodgrass' personal life as well as his career:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._Snodgrass