Mischa Willett

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Mischa Willett
Mischa Willett
Born
Michael David Willett

1978
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWheaton College
OccupationAuthor
Websitewww.mischawillett.com

Mischa Willett is an American poet[1] and essayist best known for his work in the poetic elegy[2] and for his academic championship of the Spasmodic poets.[3][4]

Biography[]

Willett was born in Phoenix, Arizona to a family associated with People's Church,[5] an offshoot of the Jesus movement. His childhood was spent moving around the west coast[5] before he attended Wheaton College (Illinois) where he studied under evangelical writers such as Leland Ryken and Alan Jacobs (academic).[6] There he attended his first poetry readings by poets such as Li-Young Lee, Dana Gioia, and Jeanne Murray Walker.[6]

After college, Willett moved to Flagstaff where he lived as a church sexton (office) while completing a Master of Arts degree from Northern Arizona University.[6]

He moved back to the Pacific Northwest to complete an Master of Fine Arts degree at University of Washington under the direction of Richard Kenney (poet) and Linda Bierds.[6] There, under the auspices of study abroad programs, he first began taking the trips to Rome that would become a recurrent feature in his poetry.[7]

Willett stayed at University of Washington for a Ph.D. focusing on Romanticism, during which time he first began to appreciate the Spasmodic poets.[6] While writing his dissertation, he spent a year as scholar-in-residence at University of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, where he gave a public poetry reading in the Hölderlinturm.[6] There, he began work on the impressions of Rainer Maria Rilke that would form his second book, The Elegy Beta.[8]

Willett is married to the choreographer Amber Willett.[9][10] They have two children.

Currently, Willett teaches on the English faculty at Seattle Pacific University.[11][12]

Academic career[]

Willett's published research[3] focuses mainly on British Romantic poets such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Spasmodic poets such as Alexander Smith, and Philip James Bailey.

Published Works[]

Poetry[]

Phases is a book of largely religious[13] poems that are often ironic or humorous.[14] It was listed among the "Best Books 2017" by the Washington Independent Review of Books.[15] The poems have been compared stylistically to the poems of Richard Wilbur and noted for their interest in Italian culture and classical civilizations.[16]

Willett's second book, The Elegy Beta is an extended meditation on angels as represented in The Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke.[17] It was the first poetry book published by Mockingbird Press[18] and was included among the ten best poetry books of 2020 by Relief Journal.[19] The book has been stylistically and thematically compared to the Metaphysical poets especially John Donne, and to John Berryman.[8]

Essays[]

As an essayist, Willett writes on culture and religion in venues such as The Gospel Coalition, Mere Orthodoxy, Cardus, The Curator, Front Porch Republic, and First Things.

Bibliography[]

  • Willett, Mischa. Phases. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2017. Print. ISBN 978-1733716659
  • Willett, Mischa. The Elegy Beta: and Other Poems. Charlottesville, VA: Mockingbird Ministries, 2020. Print. ISBN 978-1532610356
  • Bailey, Philip James. Festus: An Epic Poem, edited by Mischa Willett, Edinburgh UP, 2021. Print. ISBN 978-1474457811

References[]

  1. ^ Watson, Kathryn. "Virtue and Necessity of Mentorship". Christianity Today. Retrieved 8 May 2020. Willett is now an accomplished poet and is so at home on a college campus that he is a professor at Seattle Pacific University.
  2. ^ Young, Glynn (2020). "Poets and Poems". Tweetspeak. Retrieved 10 May 2020. Poet Mischa Willett is exploring the elegy. More than that, he’s modernizing it.
  3. ^ a b "Mischa Willett". Google Scholar. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. ^ Bocarde, Patrick (13 Nov 2017). "Talking Earth" (Radio). KBOO Portland. Retrieved 10 May 2020. Willett's specialty is nineteenth-century British Poetry of the Spasmodic School
  5. ^ a b "My Box of 64: Episode 2 – Mischa Willett & the power of practice". Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Bio". Mischa Willett. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  7. ^ "On Our Bookshelf". Mockingbird. Retrieved 8 July 2020. Poems playful, at times, epigrammatic, conscious of things Italian
  8. ^ a b Rossi, Lee (2020). "Review of The Elegy Beta". Rain Taxi. 25 (2). Willett gives us a stripped-down Rilke for the 20th century; Throughout his career, Willett has evinced a taste for the English Metaphysical poets and...syntax reminiscent of John Berryman
  9. ^ DeAngelis, Allison (Oct 6, 2016). "All New Ballet Score". Bellevue Reporter. Retrieved 8 July 2020. [Amber Willett is]...a fan of Shakespeare and married to an English literature professor
  10. ^ Hardinia, Nichole (Aug 2018). "Willett Family: Happiest Here". Queen Anne Neighbors Magazine.
  11. ^ "Faculty Profile". SPU Department of English and Cultural Studies. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  12. ^ Young, Glynn. "Poets and Poems: Mischa Willett and Phases". Tweetspeak Poetry. Retrieved 8 May 2020. Willett teaches English at Seattle Pacific University. He specializes in 19th century British poetry and also teaches Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, and creative writing
  13. ^ Minkoff, Michael (March 17, 2018). "Truth is Like Poetry". Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith. Retrieved 8 May 2020. He brings religion down from the clouds in poems like “The Help”
  14. ^ Galbraith, Jeffrey (2017). Smith, Christopher (ed.). "Critical Distance on Modern Life". The Englewood Review of Books. 7: 26–27. Adept at engaging the reader with music and humor, keen to the ironies of modern culture
  15. ^ Cavalieri, Grace. "October 2017 Exemplars". Washington Independent Review of Books. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  16. ^ Rossi, Lee. "Mischa Willett's Phases". Pedestal Magazine (82). Retrieved 8 May 2020. The influence of Richard Wilbur, with his love of elegance and Italian culture, seems particularly strong
  17. ^ Burrows, Mark. "Come Crack the Frozen". Mockingbird. Retrieved 8 May 2020. Willett’s poems improvise on the melodic themes and thematic movements found in Rilke’s Duino Elegies
  18. ^ "Now Available: The Elegy Beta: And Other Poems, by Mischa Willett". Mockingbird. 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2020-07-21. Never before has Mockingbird published a book of poetry — but with “The Elegy Beta”, that changes.
  19. ^ Danielsen, Aarik. "2020 in Poetry". Relief Journal. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

External links[]

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