Tony Hoagland
A selection of recordings by veteran faculty member
Tony Hoagland (1953-2018)
Tony Hoagland
November 19, 1953 – October 23, 2018
When poetry came to me, as a teenager, I was in an impoverished state of disorientation—so, those poets I was reading, they really became my family: Philip Larkin and Frank O’Hara and Ray Carver –they became my reference points for how to relate to the world: how to bear it, how to process it, how to think, how to feel—all those things. I was like the boy in the bubble: poetry became my oxygen. And in many ways, for me poetry is still a reliable source of reasons to live, and also ways to have fun. I think I’ve kept my fire by teaching a lot—by teaching and remembering for myself, even if my students aren’t listening, why this is a humanly important activity, and I have a foolish conviction that poetry is still important to the world, important to human nature, capable of making it deeper and better and more self-knowing…I haven’t found anything better to believe in…. It would be my next goal, as a writer of whatever genre, to learn how to write into the mystery completely.
Tony Hoagland
MFA Program for Writers at WWC
35th anniversary, July 2011
The MFA Program for Writers mourns the passing of beloved poet and colleague Tony Hoagland. Tony joined our faculty in January 1993 and supervised the projects of more than 50 students over the next twenty-plus years. Many of his craft essays were first delivered at Warren Wilson MFA residencies. “What a privilege it has been,” he wrote in September, “for me to share this passionate community of our art and Warren Wilson with so many others of that remarkable company of brave believers.”
We’re braver for all Tony brought to this community. We’re grateful for his generosity and kindness, his sharp brilliance and humor, and for the indelible poems in which those distinctive qualities remain vitally present.
In the summer of 2018 Tony recorded himself reading twenty of those poems. He asked that these be made available on the MFA Program for Writers website. You can access them below.
“And the Men”
“Barton Springs”
“Because it is Houston”
“Commercial for a Summer Night”
“Examples of Justice”
“Feeling Generous”
“Fortune”
“Hard Rain”
“In Praise of Their Divorce”
“Into the Mystery”
“Little Champion”
“Lucky”
“Marriage Song”
“Misunderstandings”
“Phone Call”
“Playboy”
“Rap Music”
“Real Estate”
“Song for Picking Up”
“What They Told Me”
Tony Hoagland
November 19, 1953 – October 23, 2018
When poetry came to me, as a teenager, I was in an impoverished state of disorientation—so, those poets I was reading, they really became my family: Philip Larkin and Frank O’Hara and Ray Carver –they became my reference points for how to relate to the world: how to bear it, how to process it, how to think, how to feel—all those things. I was like the boy in the bubble: poetry became my oxygen. And in many ways, for me poetry is still a reliable source of reasons to live, and also ways to have fun. I think I’ve kept my fire by teaching a lot—by teaching and remembering for myself, even if my students aren’t listening, why this is a humanly important activity, and I have a foolish conviction that poetry is still important to the world, important to human nature, capable of making it deeper and better and more self-knowing…I haven’t found anything better to believe in…. It would be my next goal, as a writer of whatever genre, to learn how to write into the mystery completely.
Tony Hoagland
MFA Program for Writers at WWC
35th anniversary, July 2011
The MFA Program for Writers mourns the passing of beloved poet and colleague Tony Hoagland. Tony joined our faculty in January 1993 and supervised the projects of more than 50 students over the next twenty-plus years. Many of his craft essays were first delivered at Warren Wilson MFA residencies. “What a privilege it has been,” he wrote in September, “for me to share this passionate community of our art and Warren Wilson with so many others of that remarkable company of brave believers.”
We’re braver for all Tony brought to this community. We’re grateful for his generosity and kindness, his sharp brilliance and humor, and for the indelible poems in which those distinctive qualities remain vitally present.
In the summer of 2018 Tony recorded himself reading twenty of those poems. He asked that these be made available on the MFA Program for Writers website. You can access them below.
“And the Men”
“Barton Springs”
“Because it is Houston”
“Commercial for a Summer Night”
“Examples of Justice”
“Feeling Generous”
“Fortune”
“Hard Rain”
“In Praise of Their Divorce”
“Into the Mystery”
“Little Champion”
“Lucky”
“Marriage Song”
“Misunderstandings”
“Phone Call”
“Playboy”
“Rap Music”
“Real Estate”
“Song for Picking Up”
“What They Told Me”
