Dan Chiasson (/ˈtʃeɪsən/; born May 9, 1971[1] in Burlington, Vermont) is an American poet, critic, and journalist. The Sewanee Review called Chiasson "the country’s most visible poet-critic." He is the Lorraine Chao Wang Professor of English Literature at Wellesley College.
Chiasson is the author of six books: The Afterlife of Objects (University of Chicago Press, 2002), Natural History (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), One Kind of Everything: Poem and Person in Contemporary America (University of Chicago Press, 2007), Where's the Moon, There's the Moon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), Bicentennial (Alfred A. Knopf, 2014) and The Math Campers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020).
Chiasson is currently working on a nonfiction book about politics and change in American life, "Bernie for Burlington: Sanders in a Changing Vermont, 1968-1991," based in part on his own early memories of Mayor Sanders, to be published by Pantheon in 2025.
Chiasson is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. He was the poetry editor (with Meghan O'Rourke), and later advisory editor, of the Paris Review.[4] His poems have been translated into many languages, including German by Jan Wagner. His Natural History was published as Naturgeschichte at Luxbooks, a publishing house focused on American poetry in bilingual editions. In the UK, he is published by Bloodaxe Books.
He is on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common, based at Amherst College.[5]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2014)
Poetryedit
Collections
Chiasson, Dan (2002). The afterlife of objects. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
— (2007). Natural history : poems. New York: Random House.
— (2010). Where's the moon, there's the moon : poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
— (2014). Bicentennial : poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
— (2020). The math campers : poems. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Anthologies
Hix, H. L., ed. (2008). New voices : contemporary poetry from the United States. Irish Pages.
List of poems
Title
Year
First published
Reprinted/collected
The anatomy of melancholy
2001
Chiasson, Dan (June 18, 2001). "The anatomy of melancholy". The New Yorker: 125.
Nocturne
2001
Chiasson, Dan (July 23, 2001). "Nocture". The New Yorker: 67.
From 'The Names of 1,001 Strangers'
2017
Chiasson, Dan (May 1, 2017). "From 'The Names of 1,001 Strangers'". The New Yorker. 93 (11): 38–39.
Obituary
2014
Chiasson, Dan (January 6, 2014). "Obituary". The New Yorker. 89 (43): 60.
Self
2000
Chiasson, Dan (July 24, 2000). "Self". The New Yorker. 76 (20): 40.
Swifts
2008
Chiasson, Dan (July 29, 2008). "Swifts". Poem. Slate.
Criticismedit
Chiasson, Dan (1993). The fidgets of remembrance: three reflections on Robert Lowell's late poetry. Amherst College.
— (2007). One kind of everything : poem and person in contemporary America. University of Chicago Press.
— (November 3, 2008). "Works on paper : the letters of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 98 (28): 106–110.[a]
— (April 19, 2010). "Forms of attention : Don Paterson's 'Rain'". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 86 (9).
— (November 2012). "The humble vernacular : a word-of-mouth dictionary". Reviews. Harper's Magazine. 325 (1950): 90–94.
— (April 15, 2013). "End of the line : new poems from Carl Phillips". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 89 (9): 78–79.
— (October 28, 2013). "The ghost writer : Lucie Brock-Broido's "Stay, Illusion"". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 89 (34): 78–79.
— (February 10, 2014). "Bet the farm : Robert Frrost's turbulent apprenticeship". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 89 (48): 72–76.
— (June 2, 2014). "Mother tongue : poetry and prose by Rachel Zucker". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 90 (15): 77–79.
— (October 20, 2014). "View from the mountain : new poems by Louise Glück". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 90 (32): 95–97.
— (April 13, 2015). "Out of this world : James Merrill's supernatural muse". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 91 (8): 70–74.
— (March 21, 2016). "The tenderness trap : Robyn Schiff and the poetry of ordinary terror". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 92 (6): 89–90.
— (June 20, 2016). "Boundary conditions : Adrienne Rich's collected poems". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 92 (18): 78–81.
— (August 8–15, 2016). "Childhood's end : a debut about life, language, and what binds them". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 92 (24): 75–77.[b]
— (March 20, 2017). "The mania and the muse : did Robert Lowell's illness shape his work?". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 93 (5): 94–97.[c]
— (December 4, 2017). "One man's trash : how A. R. Ammons turned the everyday into art". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 93 (39): 69–72.[d]
— (February 11, 2019). "Song of my selves : Shane McRae's poems to America". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 94 (48): 68–69.[e]
— (June 3, 2019). "Bittersweet : Natalie Scenters-Zapico's poems evoke damage and repair". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 95 (15): 65–67.[f]
— (January 13, 2020). "Original recipes : appetite and anxiety in Tommy Pico's poems". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 95 (44): 68–69.[g]
— (September 7, 2020). "Suspended pleasures : a month in the life of Bernadette Mayer". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 96 (26): 76–77.[h]
— (May 31, 2021). "Far out : what the Bolinas poets built". The Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 97 (14): 65–66.[i]
———————
Notes
^Reviews Travisano, Thomas & Saskia Hamilton, eds. (2008). Words in air : the complete correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
^Online version is titled "Poetry of a childhood lost". Reviews Prikryl, Jana. The after party. Tim Duggan Books.
^Online version is titled "The illness and insight of Robert Lowell".
^Online version is titled "The great American poet of daily chores".
^Online version is titled "Shane McRae's poems to America".
^Online version is titled "The bittersweet poetry of 'Lima :: Limón'".
^Online version is titled "Tommy Pico filibusters mortality with poetry".
^Online version is titled "Inside Bernadette Mayer’s time capsule".
^Online version is titled "What the Bolinas poets built".