| Compiled by Peter Armenti, Digital Reference Specialist
On August 1, 1943, Allen Tate took up his duties as the second Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress. With the assistance of Frances Neel Cheney, Tate surveyed the Library's collections in American and English poetry and produced Sixty American Poets 1896-1944. He proposed and helped to create the Fellows of the Library of Congress in American Letters, hoping that this group would influence the development of the Library’s collections. Tate also served as the first editor of the newly created Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, a publication that systematically described the Library’s latest acquisitions. Tate served one term as poet laureate, finishing his duties in July 1944.
This guide compiles
links to resources on Allen Tate throughout the Library
of Congress Web site, as well as links to external Web sites
that include features on his life or selections
of his work. To suggest additions to this guide, please contact the Digital Reference Section.
Library of Congress Web Site
•Letters and Memoranda
•Photographs
•Print Resources
External
Web Sites
•Biographical Information, Papers, Poetry
•Audio Recordings
•Articles and Essays by Allen Tate
•Articles, Essays, and Criticism about Allen Tate
•Resources for Study and Teaching
•Allen Tate in the News
Letters and Memoranda
From the American Memory collection Freedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress, 1939-1953:
Letter from Allen Tate to Archibald MacLeish, April 23, 1943
In his letter, Allen Tate accepts Archibald MacLeish's offer to become the Library of Congress Consultant in Poetry.
Memorandum from David C. Mearns to Archibald MacLeish, April 27, 1943
Letter describing Allen Tate's duties as the Consultant in Poetry.
Letter from Archibald MacLeish to Allen Tate, May 1, 1943
Archibald MacLeish writes to Allen Tate with instructions about his work as the Library of Congress Consultant in Poetry.
Memorandum from Archibald MacLeish to Milton Plumb, May 18, 1943
Archibald MacLeish writes to Milton Plumb with instructions for the announcement of Allen Tate as the Library of Congress Consultant in Poetry.
Memorandum from Allen Tate to Archibald MacLeish, August 24, 1943
Draft of a General Order for the Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, explaining the publication's purpose and scope.
Memorandum from Archibald MacLeish to Allen Tate, June 24, 1944
Archibald MacLeish asks Allen Tate how he should respond to T. S. Eliot's letter of May 29, 1944.
Letter from Allen Tate to Robert Penn Warren, March 26, 1945
Allen Tate's letter includes a list of candidates for the position of Consultant in Poetry.
Photographs
Results from the Library's Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
Portrait of Allen Tate, undated (from the American Memory collection Freedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress, 1939-1953)
Print Resources
Works by Allen Tate, including audio recordings, can be found in the Library of Congress online
catalog under the following author heading:
Tate, Allen, 1899-1979
Works about Allen Tate can be found in the Library of
Congress online catalog under
subject headings that begin Tate, Allen, 1899-1979.
(Download the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF documents.)
Biographical Information, Papers, Poetry
Academy of American Poets
Biography of Tate, two poems,
a selected bibliography, and links to external resources.
Allen Tate Papers
Finding aid to the Allen Tate Papers at Princeton University's Firestone Library.
The Heath Anthology of American Literature
Biography of Tate.
The Poetry Foundation
Biography of Tate, four poems, and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources.
The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Biography of Tate.
The Tennessee Writers Project
Biography of Tate.
Audio Recordings
Creative Mind: The Poet as Creator (29:26)
WGBH Forum Network, February 6, 1957
Articles and Essays by Allen Tate
"Narcissus as Narcissus"
From Al Filreis' Modern & Contemporary American Poetry Web site.
Articles, Essays, and Criticism about Allen Tate
"Looking Beyond the Confederate Dead"
Interview with Tate's third wife, Helen. Chapter 16, January 7, 2010
"Allen Tate in VQR"
The Virginia Quarterly Review,
November 29, 2009
"Edgar Bowers and Allen Tate"
By David Yezzi. Paper presented at How Shall a Generation Know Its Story: The Edgar Bowers Conference & Exhibition, April 11, 2003
"The Violence of Allen Tate"
The New Criterion, September 2001
Excerpt of first chapter of
Thomas A. Underwood's Allen Tate: Orphan of the South (Princeton University Press, 2000)
Princeton University Press Web site
Letters from Wallace Stevens to Allen Tate (page number references to letters italicized under entry for Tate, Allen)
From Letters of Wallace Stevens, University of California Press, 1996
"Anguish in a Second Marriage: The Caroline Gordon-Allen Tate Letters"
Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association, No. 9 (1993)
"The Fathers and the Power of Love: Allen Tate's Modern Triumph of Poetry" (PDF, 41.5 KB)
Mooney, Jennifer. Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association, no. 8 (1991)
"Allen Tate"
Donoghue, Dennis. Chapter from Reading America: Essays on American Literature, 1988.
"Mr. Tate and the Limits of Poetry"
The Virginia Quarterly Review 62, no. 1 (Winter 1986)
"The Legacy of Allen Tate" (PDF, 304 KB)
Drake, Robert. Modern Age 23, no. 3 (Summer 1979): 272-275.
Print Criticism
Perspectives in American Literature
Bibliography of Tate's primary writings, as well as a selected bibliography of book-length criticism from 1980-present.
Reviews of Books about Tate
Atlantic Monthly review of Thomas A. Underwood's Allen Tate: Orphan of the South (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
The Journal of American History review of Thomas A. Underwood's Allen Tate: Orphan of the South (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
Resources for Study and Teaching
eNotes.com
Critical information on Tate from Thomson Gale's Poetry Criticism series.
Encyclopedia Virginia
Information about Tate's novel The Fathers.
Heath Anthology of American Literature
Ideas and issues to consider when introducing Tate's poetry into the classroom
Modern American Poetry
Excerpts of criticism about Tate's "Ode to the Confederate Dead," a biographical essay, and links to external resources.
Perspectives in American Literature
Bibliography of Tate's primary writings, as well as a selected bibliography of book-length criticism from 1980-present.
Allen Tate in the News
Google
News Archive search on Allen Tate
Blog entries on Allen Tate, via Google Blog Search
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