Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Alice Notley

Alice Elizabeth Notley (November 8, 1945 – May 19, 2025) was an American poet recognized for her extensive body of work exceeding forty books, characterized by experimental forms that fused narrative, epic, and lyric elements to probe themes of personal experience, mythology, and the boundaries of language. Born in , and raised in the town of , Notley attended , graduating with a BA in 1967, followed by an MFA from the in 1969. In the early 1970s, she settled in , immersing herself in the second generation of the New York School—a loose affiliation of poets extending the first-generation's emphasis on spontaneity and urban vitality—where she married fellow poet in 1972 and raised two sons, and Anselm Berrigan, both of whom became poets. Her early publications, such as 165 Meeting House Lane (1971), reflected this milieu's conversational and improvisational ethos, while collaborations with Berrigan underscored her integration into the era's networks. After Berrigan's death from in 1983, Notley sustained her output amid personal upheaval, remarrying English Douglas Oliver in 1988 (until his death in 2000) and experimenting with longer forms that incorporated dream logic and feminist perspectives, as seen in The Descent of Alette (1996), a book-length rendered in fragmented, indented lines depicting a heroine's underworld quest. Relocating frequently—through , Bolinas, and eventually in the 1990s, where she lived for decades—Notley produced works like Mysteries of Small Houses (1998), which earned the for , and Disobedience (2001), awarded the Griffin International Poetry Prize. Notley's later career featured ambitious sequences such as Grave of Light (2006), recipient of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Culture of One (2011), a novelistic exploration of artistic obsession. In 2015, she received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the for lifetime achievement, affirming her influence on contemporary through relentless formal innovation and refusal of stylistic repetition. She died in from a cerebral hemorrhage, amid treatment for , leaving a legacy of poetry that prioritized visceral immediacy over orthodoxy.

Biography

Early life and education

Alice Elizabeth Notley was born on November 8, 1945, in . She grew up primarily in , a small, isolated town on the bordering the , where she attended the local public schools. Her parents had limited educational opportunities—her father did not complete high school—and could not afford college, yet they respected and possessed some knowledge of it, which contributed to her early familiarity with literary forms. Notley enrolled at , earning a BA in 1967 while studying poetry writing with , whose classes emphasized imitation of major modernist poets and introduced experimental techniques. She subsequently attended the at the , admitted initially as a fiction writer, and completed an MFA in 1969 with coursework in both fiction and poetry.

Early career and moves (1972–1975)

In 1972, Alice Notley married the poet Ted Berrigan following their meeting at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the couple relocated to Chicago, where Berrigan held a teaching position at Northeastern Illinois University. There, Notley immersed herself in the local avant-garde poetry community, editing the mimeographed magazine Chicago, which ran for nine issues between 1972 and 1974 and featured contributions from emerging poets, thereby fostering a nascent scene amid practical challenges like limited resources for small-press production. The same year, Notley gave birth to their first son, Anselm Berrigan, who would later become a poet himself. During this Chicago period, Notley published key early works, including Phoebe Light (1973) and Incidentals in the Day World (1973), alongside contributions to periodicals that showcased her initial forays into blending everyday observations with disrupted forms, as seen in pieces drawing on popular culture icons like Muhammad Ali. In 1974, she released For Frank O’Hara’s Birthday, a reflecting personal and stylistic experimentation amid family life and geographic flux. In 1973, Berrigan's appointment as poet-in-residence at the prompted a family move to , a village near , , where they resided until 1974; Notley used this interval for writing and occasional teaching support, producing poems influenced by the displacement, such as those composed in the local landscape. The return to by 1975 marked a stabilization before further transitions, with Notley's output evidencing a rejection of rigid conventions through collage-like assemblages and narrative interruptions in her manuscripts.

New York City years (1976–1992)

In 1976, Alice Notley and her husband, poet , relocated from to 's with their two young sons, Edmund and Anselm, settling into the neighborhood's burgeoning downtown literary and art communities. This move positioned Notley as a key figure in the second-generation New York School poets, where she engaged with experimental writing circles amid the era's punk music venues, galleries, and informal readings that characterized the East Village. Notley collaborated closely with Berrigan during the initial years of their residence, sharing involvement in the local scene's collaborative ethos, though their joint output focused more on mutual influence than co-authored volumes; Berrigan's health declined due to chronic contracted earlier, limiting later partnerships. She received a fellowship in 1979, supporting her small-press publications such as Alice Ordered Me to Be Made: Poems 1975 (Yellow Press, 1976), Dr. Williams' Heiresses (Kulchur Foundation, 1980), How Spring Comes (Toothpaste Press, 1981; winner of the Poetry Award), and Waltzing Matilda (Kulchur Foundation, 1981). These works emerged from the improvisational energy of readings and presses, reflecting the urban flux without formal editorial roles in major NYC periodicals during this time. Berrigan died on July 15, 1983, at age 48 from linked to long-term and prior drug use, prompting Notley to compose the elegiac sequence At Night the States (Toothpaste Press, 1988) while single-handedly raising her sons in the gritty, artist-populated East Village. Her productivity persisted amid these challenges, yielding titles like Margaret & Dusty (Kulchur Foundation, 1985), Tell Me Again (Am Here Books, 1982; an autobiographical work), From a Work in Progress (Tuumba Press, 1988), and Homer's Art (Avenue B, 1990), often distributed via independent outlets tied to the neighborhood's DIY ethos. The city's raw, multifaceted environment—encompassing aesthetics and overlaps—shaped her domestic and creative routines, as evidenced by poems incorporating family life and street observations.

Paris period and later developments (1992–2025)

In 1992, Notley relocated to Paris with her second husband, the British poet Douglas Oliver, where she immersed herself in the city's literary scene while preserving connections to networks through correspondence and occasional visits. The couple co-edited the Gare du Nord from 1997 to 1999, featuring contributions from international poets and reflecting their shared experiences. Oliver died of cancer on April 21, 2000, at age 62, after which Notley remained in , continuing to engage with and Anglo-American literary communities. Notley's productivity persisted amid these changes, with key publications including Mysteries of Small Houses in 1998, an autobiographical volume drawing on personal loss and memory, followed by Disobedience in 2001, which grapples with Oliver's death through fragmented narratives. Subsequent works encompassed From the Beginning: Poems, 1970–2006 (2004 compilation with post-1992 material), Alma, or The Dead Women (2006), and epic-length projects like The Descent of Alette extensions in later editions. By the , she issued Culture of One (2011), a novelistic work, and Certain Magical Acts (2016), alongside For the Ride (2020) and Being Reflected Upon (2024), maintaining output across and hybrid forms despite her base in . Post-2000, Notley adapted to evolving dissemination channels, participating in online readings and digital archives that broadened access to her work beyond print, including audio recordings of Paris-inspired pieces and virtual engagements with U.S. audiences. Personal reflections in late publications addressed widowhood, aging, and expatriate isolation, often through mythic lenses informed by her French surroundings, as in explorations of following Oliver's passing. Notley resided in until her death on May 19, 2025, at age 79.

Death

Alice Notley died on May 19, 2025, at a hospital in , where she had lived since the early 1990s. She was 79 years old. The cause was a cerebral hemorrhage, with her son Berrigan also noting that she had been battling . Her sons, poets Anselm and Berrigan, confirmed the death, stating that family and friends were present at her side. Initial announcements from literary institutions, including the and , emphasized Notley's sustained output in her final years, with over 40 volumes of poetry published across her career. Tributes from peers, such as in the obituary, underscored her "restless reinvention" and prolific Paris-based work, including recent collections like Being Reflected Upon (2024), without mention of publicly known unfinished projects at the time of her passing. Her death prompted prompt commemorative actions, such as unlocking archival interviews and organizing memorial readings, facilitating early critical reflections on the scope and finality of her epic-scale body of work.

Personal Life

Relationships and family

Notley married the poet in 1972, and the couple had two sons, and Anselm Berrigan. They lived in from 1972 to 1976 before relocating to , where they raised their children amid the demands of family life and artistic pursuits. Berrigan died on July 4, 1983, at age 48, from liver resulting from hepatitis contracted in 1975 and exacerbated by long-term including drugs and diet pills. Notley married the British poet Douglas Oliver in 1988. The couple moved to in 1992, where they resided until Oliver's death on April 21, 2000, at age 62, from cancer. Notley balanced motherhood with her writing career during her first marriage, managing childcare responsibilities while engaging in the New York poetry community. Both sons pursued careers in poetry and editing. Edmund Berrigan has published collections such as More Gone (, 2019) and served as an editor for magazines including Vlak and Lungfull!. Anselm Berrigan has authored multiple books of poetry, directed the St. Mark's Poetry Project from 2003 to 2007, and co-chairs the writing program at College's Graduate School of the Arts.

Literary associations and collaborations

Notley formed key literary ties with the second-generation New York School poets, including Ted Berrigan, Kenneth Koch, and Anne Waldman, through shared readings, publications, and collaborative aesthetics emphasizing spontaneity and collage-like composition. These associations emerged during her New York years, where she engaged in joint artistic projects such as collages produced alongside Berrigan, Joe Brainard, and George Schneeman, reflecting the group's interdisciplinary approach blending poetry and visual elements. In the 1970s, Notley edited the mimeographed magazine CHICAGO, which featured contributions from New York School affiliates and downtown poets, amplifying networks within the experimental scene that included punk-inflected writers and visual artists. Her collaborations extended to posthumous editorial work on Berrigan's oeuvre, including the introduction to the 2000 reissue of The Sonnets and, with their sons Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, the compilation of The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan (2005), preserving and contextualizing second-generation practices. Following her 1992 relocation to , Notley co-edited the journals Scarlet (1990–1991) and (1997–1999) with British poet Douglas , platforms that published international poets and facilitated dialogues influencing her epic-scale experiments. These ventures connected her to European and global literary circles, distinct from her earlier affiliations, and underscored reciprocal influences in form and theme among and transnational writers.

Poetic Style and Themes

Techniques and formal innovations

Notley's emphasize a principle of disobedience, defined as ongoing noncompliance with external pressures, poetic doctrines, and expectations, allowing openness to any subject or form without adherence to factional norms. This approach treats as direct confrontation with raw experience rather than a refined construct, prioritizing the unfiltered "I" to dismantle illusions and explore uncharted perceptual territories. In practice, it manifests in structural rebellion, such as shifting from prescribed fragmentation to emphatic metrical assertions within narrative frameworks. Early in her career, Notley employed structured short forms, including sonnets, as seen in her 1971 chapbook 165 Meeting House Lane, which consists of twenty-four sonnets influenced by Edwin Denby's formal precision, featuring consistent stanzaic units of fourteen lines each. These works adhere to traditional line lengths averaging 8-10 syllables, with rhyme schemes varying from strict ABAB to looser patterns, marking an initial engagement with metered lyric constraints before broader experimentation. Over time, Notley evolved toward expansive long forms, rejecting short lyric isolation for epic-scale narratives spanning hundreds of pages, such as Disobedience (2001), a 272-page blending paragraphs with irregular breaks to accommodate dense, associative progression. In The Descent of Alette (1996), she innovates typographically by enclosing nearly every phrase in , fragmenting the line into discrete spoken units—often 3-7 words per quoted segment—disrupting linear flow to evoke dialogic interruption and perceptual layering, while varying lengths from single lines to multi-unit blocks. Collage techniques appear in her integration of disparate textual elements, as in Mysteries of Small Houses (1998), where poetic sections juxtapose autobiographical fragments, visual motifs, and non sequiturs akin to assembled scraps, employing abrupt shifts and overlaid voices to construct composite structures without seamless transitions. This method extends to narrative fragmentation, piecing incomplete vignettes into larger wholes via irregular line breaks and enjambments that mimic cut-and-paste discontinuity. Notley largely forgoes traditional meter in favor of prose-like expanses in her epics, favoring long, unbound lines that stretch across pages—often exceeding 20 syllables—in works like Disobedience, where rhythmic propulsion derives from syntactic momentum rather than syllabic count, enabling fluid, paragraphic blocks that prioritize perceptual immediacy over . This shift accommodates evolving variations, from terse couplets to sprawling poems, reflecting a commitment to form as adaptive to raw thought processes.

Core motifs and influences

Notley's poetry recurrently integrates motifs of , dreams, and underworld journeys, as evidenced in works like The Descent of Alette (1992), where the protagonist navigates a subterranean realm populated by archetypal figures and tyrannical entities, drawing on ancient descent narratives such as the Descent of for its structure of confrontation and transformation. These elements serve as vehicles for exploring existential rupture rather than adhering to modernist fragmentation, with dreams providing raw narrative fragments incorporated directly from Notley's own experiences since the late 1960s, manifesting as hallucinatory sequences that blur waking and subconscious realities. Influences from appear in her emphasis on unadorned, object-centered perception, as articulated in Dr. Williams' Heiresses (1980), which reclaims his legacy for female poets through motifs of domestic inheritance over abstract experimentation. Dante's epic framework indirectly shapes underworld topographies in The Descent of Alette, echoing infernal pilgrimages without explicit emulation, while folk traditions inform reframings of mythic figures like and in Songs and Stories of the Ghouls (2011), prioritizing oral narrative vitality over canonical orthodoxy. Personal experiences function as unmediated causal inputs generating motifs, with motherhood depicted through visceral details of , birth, and child-rearing in 1970s collections like How Spring Comes (1981), where motifs of bodily dissolution and renewal emerge from lived domestic disruptions, such as the "loss of self" in . Loss, particularly Ted Berrigan's death in 1983, yields elegiac motifs of spectral return and psychic haunting in At Night the States (1988), where refrains evoke unresolved bereavement tied to specific events like shared urban routines in decaying environments. Urban decay motifs from her period, including gritty streetscapes and social erosion, appear in early works but recede as causal anchors for later mythic overlays, reflecting direct encounters with city during the 1970s and 1980s. Feminist motifs surface through critiques of gender constraints, as in the tyranness figure of The Descent of Alette, which interrogates patriarchal domination via archetypal without prescriptive , grounded in Notley's observation of women's subjugation in poetic and spheres. Post-widowhood, verifiable shifts occur around 1985, with motifs evolving from interpersonal domesticity to broader spiritual quests and collective disobedience, as grief from multiple losses (including Berrigan and family) propels and elegiac content, evident in the transition to scales addressing mortality's universality over gendered isolation.

Major Works

Key publications by period

Notley's earliest publications appeared through small presses in the early . 165 Meeting House Lane, issued by "C" Press in 1971, marked her debut full-length collection. This was followed by Phoebe Light in 1973 from Big Sky Books in , a reflecting her initial forays into personal and domestic motifs via minimalist forms. Incidentals in the Day World, also published in 1973, further established her presence in alternative poetry circuits with its fragmented, diary-like entries printed in limited editions. During her years from 1976 to 1992, Notley co-founded the press in 1977 with , releasing works through it and similar imprints that emphasized collaborative, handmade aesthetics. Key outputs included Alice Ordered Me to Be Made (Yellow Press, 1976), a sequence blending everyday observation with surreal elements in broadside format; Songs for the Unborn Second Baby (, 1979), composed partly during a 1974 stay in but published amid her NYC immersion; and A Diamond Necklace (Frontward Books, 1977). Later in the period, How Spring Comes (Toothpaste Press, 1981) and (Kulchur Foundation, 1981) showcased expanded narrative experiments via letterpress editions, while At Night the States (1988) appeared in a compact, portable design suited to urban reading. After relocating to in 1992, Notley's publications shifted toward major trade presses, enabling broader distribution of longer forms. The Descent of Alette (, 1996), a book-length poem in 144 sections, introduced her signature use of for emphasis across 160 pages. Subsequent volumes included Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998), comprising 114 prose poems; Disobedience (Penguin, 2001), a 128-page exploration of maternal rage; and Grave of Light: New & Selected Poems, 1970–2005 (Wesleyan University Press, 2006), anthologizing 35 years of work in a 256-page edition. In the , (Penguin, 2007), Culture of One (Penguin, 2011, 336 pages on fictional artist ), and Certain Magical Acts (Penguin, 2016) continued this trajectory with hybrid novel-poem structures. Post-2020 works encompassed For the Ride (Penguin, 2022), a 96-page sequence invoking O'Hara, and Being Reflected Upon (Penguin, recent edition reflecting ongoing Paris-based composition).

Epic and experimental projects

Alice Notley's The Descent of Alette (1992) constitutes a book-length feminist poem spanning 160 pages, in which the narrator undertakes a into an underground realm beneath the city to confront a tyrannical figure, encountering caves and otherworldly entities along the way. The work departs from epic conventions through its innovative use of enclosing each poetic foot, which deliberately slows the reading pace and fragments the line, creating a rhythm that mirrors the protagonist's disorientation and rebellion against patriarchal structures. In Alma, or The Dead Women (2006), Notley extends her experimental scope with a book-length narrative reframing mythic destruction through female figures like and , employing prose-like lines without initial capitals to evoke a timeless, placeless realm of the dead. Composed between 2001 and 2003, the project draws causal impetus from personal grief, including the 2000 death of her husband Doug Oliver and the collective losses of , 2001, channeling raw mourning into a polyvocal structure that amplifies women's voices amid devastation. Certo Magical Acts (2016) further exemplifies Notley's genre-blending ambitions in a series of book-length poems that fuse with novelistic elements, incorporating character-driven sequences blending the personal, fantastical, and to explore transformative acts beyond conventional lyric bounds. These projects collectively demonstrate her pursuit of vast scales—often thousands of lines across extended sequences—prioritizing formal rupture and ambition to interrogate self, society, and loss.

Reception and Legacy

Awards and honors

Notley received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry in 1998 for Mysteries of Small Houses. In 1999, she was named a finalist for the in Poetry, administered by for distinguished verse by an American author. In spring 2001, she was awarded the Shelley Memorial Award by the Poetry Society of America, which honors a of exceptional merit. That same year, Notley received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, recognizing distinguished achievement in literature. The Griffin Poetry Prize, presented by the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, was conferred on Notley in 2002 for Disobedience, with the international category awarding C$65,000 to living poets for English-language collections. In 2007, she won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2005, a $25,000 award for outstanding full-length poetry books published in the United States the prior year. Notley was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in 2015 by the , a $100,000 honor for lifetime achievement by a living U.S. .

Critical praise and assessments

Critics have lauded Alice Notley for her restless reinvention, a phrase encapsulating the experimental vigor that defined her oeuvre across more than 40 published books of poetry spanning five decades. This quality manifested in her consistent introduction of novel methods and voices in each major work, as observed by , which identified experimentation as the hallmark of her poetry, enabling her to channel personal, political, and mythic narratives with unflinching originality. Notley's epic projects, such as The Descent of Alette (1996), drew particular acclaim for their sprawling ambition, earning her the designation of "our present-day " from and poet Rudy Burckhardt, a characterization echoed in assessments of her genre-bending narratives that fused feminist with classical scale. The Yale Review further praised her of disobedience, rooted in a decades-long against conventional forms, as articulated in her 1998 of the same name, which underscored her refusal to conform to poetic or cultural orthodoxies. Her influence is evidenced by frequent citations in contemporary anthologies and peer endorsements, including from fellow New York School affiliates, reflecting a measurable impact through sustained publication and inclusion in critical surveys of verse. The Kenyon Review highlighted her versatility, spanning intensely personal lyrics to politically charged experiments, positioning her as a formidable bridge between traditional lyricism and modernist innovation.

Criticisms and debates

Some reviewers have characterized Notley's poetry as obscure and demanding extensive deciphering, potentially limiting its accessibility to broader audiences beyond specialized literary circles. In a 2020 New York Times assessment of her epic For the Ride, critic Parul Sehgal observes that readers "have to decipher what’s going on," amid a landscape of broken syntax, estranging language mixes, and unresolvable ambiguities that evoke postapocalyptic sci-fi worlds, such as glyph-based communication reminiscent of films like Arrival. Sehgal further notes the protagonist's exasperation—"One doesn’t know what’s happening here!"—as a proxy for reader frustration with the work's intentional embrace of the inexplicable, defended by Notley as poetic necessity yet risking dismissal as "nonsense." Debates persist over Notley's formal innovations, which often abandon traditional lyric strictures in favor of disobedience to convention, potentially eroding established craft elements like coherent progression or rhythmic . As detailed in a Paris Review profile, her oeuvre draws from classical forms only to discard them when they constrain her voice, resulting in works frequently labeled "difficult" due to relentless experimentation across nearly every volume. This approach, while innovative, invites critique for prioritizing personal myth-making—evident in epics like The Descent of Alette, structured around dream-derived fairy-tale motifs—over universally resonant structures, fostering solipsistic enclosures that resist empirical scrutiny or causal linkage to shared human experience. Empirical indicators underscore questions of value versus acclaim: despite prestigious honors such as the 2007 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Grave of Light, Notley's output includes numerous limited-edition volumes that have lapsed , signaling constrained mainstream readership amid poetry's . Institutional preferences in and literary journals, which exhibit systemic inclinations toward experimental over lucid exposition, may contribute to her , yet such elevation contrasts with demands for grounded in verifiable clarity rather than opaque novelty.

Influence on contemporary poetry

Notley's articulation of a "poetics of disobedience," outlined in her 1998 of the same name, has demonstrably shaped third-wave experimental by modeling resistance to institutional and formal constraints in , emphasizing reconstruction of the self through permeable voices and rejection of imposed narratives. This framework, evident in her shift to book-length epics like The Descent of Alette (1992), which innovates visual prosody with denoting metrical feet, has influenced such as Niina Pollari to pursue expansive, feminine-centered epic forms independent of academic validation. Similarly, Alina Pleskova has cited Notley's defiance of professionalization norms as enabling prioritization of accessible, personal voicing over elite conventions, fostering a lineage of work that integrates daily rebellion into form. Her techniques in hybridizing narrative with the unconscious—blending personal grief, historical motifs, and channeled utterance—resonate in contemporary hybrid forms, as seen in engagements by scholars like Maggie Nelson, who invokes Notley's disobedience to argue for genre-blurring in nonfiction poetry, agitating against logorrheic limits on maternal and domestic themes. Poets including Liz Bowen have emulated this by intertwining humor with channeled seriousness, trusting poetic process as a conduit beyond rational comprehension, while Carrie Lorig extends it to view poetry as an all-encompassing life practice affecting relational authenticity. These textual parallels, verified in post-2000 scholarship and tributes, trace causal emulation rather than mere admiration, with Notley's plainspoken integration of motherhood into experimental verse predating and enabling similar motifs in younger writers. Through editing mimeographed magazines and involvement in imprints like Yellow Press during the 1970s-1980s, Notley contributed to sustaining small-press ecosystems that preserved dissemination amid mainstream consolidation, enabling ongoing publication of disobedient works by emerging experimentalists. This infrastructural role, documented in archival projects of her periodicals, supported a fragmented scene by prioritizing independent circulation over institutional gatekeeping. Following her death on May 17, 2025, tributes in 2025 reassess her enduring techniques—such as permeability and domestic defiance—as vital counters to contemporary 's increasing fragmentation, with poets like Castillo affirming her model of as lifelong .

References

  1. [1]
    About Alice Notley | Academy of American Poets
    Alice Elizabeth Notley was born on November 8, 1945, in Bisbee, Arizona, and grew up in Needles, California. She received a BA from Barnard College in 1967 ...
  2. [2]
    Alice Notley | The Poetry Foundation
    Notley was born in Arizona and grew up in Needles, California. After earning her BA from Barnard College and MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Notley ...
  3. [3]
    Alice Notley Awarded 2015 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
    May 6, 2015 · Alice Notley has been awarded the 2015 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, which recognizes the outstanding lifetime achievement of a living US poet.
  4. [4]
    Alice Notley | Poetry Center
    Alice Notley was born in Bisbee, Arizona in 1945 and grew up in Needles, California in the Mojave Desert. She was educated in the Needles public schools.Missing: biography | Show results with:biography
  5. [5]
    Destined to tear this building down: an interview with Alice Notley
    My parents, who couldn't afford to go to college and in my father's case finish high school, respected poetry and knew some. Now I know that most of the ...
  6. [6]
    Citizens - Tenement Press
    As I've mentioned, I studied poetry writing with Kenneth Koch, and an important aspect in both classes I took with him was imitation; we imitated Pound, Eliot, ...
  7. [7]
    12 or 20 (second series) questions with Alice Notley
    Mar 6, 2018 · I began by writing fiction. I went to The Writers Workshop, University of Iowa as a fiction writer but got my MFA finally in fiction and poetry.
  8. [8]
    Hold Back and Give: a profile of Alice Notley - Natasha Lehrer
    '” Instead, Notley first moved to New York and attended Barnard College, where she received her BA in 1967, and then went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop ...
  9. [9]
    Alice Notley — Chicago — Nick Sturm
    Nine issues, edited by Alice Notley (1972-1974). Alice Notley's CHICAGO is a seminal publication in the history of 20th century poetry magazines.
  10. [10]
    Alice Notley, Poet Celebrated for 'Restless Reinvention,' Dies at 79
    Jun 2, 2025 · Her sons, the poets Edmund and Anselm Berrigan, said she died in a hospital from a cerebral hemorrhage. She had been in treatment for ovarian ...
  11. [11]
    Luke Roberts, Folk Gossip — Sidecar
    Jul 11, 2025 · Notley was born in 1945 and grew up in Needles, California, at the edge of the Mojave Desert. Her parents ran an auto supply store, and the town ...<|separator|>
  12. [12]
    Alice Notley: Prophecy is Alive and Well and Living in Paris - Gagosian
    Sep 27, 2024 · The poet Alice Notley moved to Paris in 1992 with her husband, the poet Douglas Oliver. The city has remained her home ever since, ...
  13. [13]
    Gare du Nord | From a Secret Location
    Gare du Nord. Alice Notley and Douglas Oliver Paris. Five issues from 1997 ... Notley and Oliver's shared life in Paris. A stance described by “X” in the ...
  14. [14]
    OBITUARY : Douglas Oliver, 62, a Writer Active in Paris Literary Life
    Apr 29, 2000 · Douglas Oliver, 62, a British poet, novelist and journalist, whose work was marked by experimental language and inventive forms, died of cancer April 21 in ...
  15. [15]
    Alice Notley's Roving “I” - The Nation
    Oct 1, 2024 · In Being Reflected Upon, a memoir in verse, the poet moves through the moments of her life with an almost cosmic sense of knowingness.
  16. [16]
    https://www.poets.org/poet/alice-notley
  17. [17]
    Alice Notley | Penguin Random House
    Books by Alice Notley ; Being Reflected Upon ; For the Ride ; Certain Magical Acts ; Culture of One ; In the Pines.Missing: 2020-2025 | Show results with:2020-2025<|separator|>
  18. [18]
    Stacked Time: On April Gibson's “The Span of a Small Forever” and ...
    Apr 27, 2024 · Heather Treseler reviews April Gibson's “The Span of a Small Forever” and Alice Notley's “Being Reflected Upon.”
  19. [19]
    Gift | The Poetry Foundation
    Jul 27, 2015 · Alice Notley wanders through a Paris cemetery and speaks to her dead father about her life in France, where she has lived since 1992.
  20. [20]
    Tausif Noor: "Alice Notley's Disobedience" - The Yale Review
    Jun 10, 2024 · Alice Notley's poetry is driven by a will to “disobedience.” In her 1998 essay “The Poetics of Disobedience,” Notley reflects on her decades-long rebellion.Missing: background | Show results with:background<|separator|>
  21. [21]
    Alice Notley, acclaimed voice in American poetry, dies at 79
    Jun 6, 2025 · ... died May 19 at a hospital in Paris. She was 79. The cause was a cerebral hemorrhage, according to her son Edmund Berrigan, who also said she ...
  22. [22]
    ALICE NOTLEY (1945-2025) - Andrei Codrescu
    May 23, 2025 · Alice Notley died in Paris Monday May 19, 2025. Her poet-sons Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, family and friends were by her side.
  23. [23]
    We at the Review mourn the loss of Alice Notley (1945 ... - Instagram
    May 20, 2025 · We at the Review mourn the loss of Alice Notley (1945-2025). In celebration of her life and work, we've unlocked her Art of Poetry interview, along with her ...
  24. [24]
    At Night The States: A Memorial Celebration for Alice Notley
    This will be a gathering to read perform and listen to works by and with and about Alice Notley, who passed away this past spring in Paris.
  25. [25]
    Interview: Erkut Tokman talks to Alice Notley - The Poetry Society
    Alice Notley was born in Bisbee, Arizona, in 1945 and grew up in Needles, California, in the Mojave Desert. She gained her BA from Barnard College and MFA from ...Missing: biography | Show results with:biography
  26. [26]
    Notley, Alice 1945- | Encyclopedia.com
    (Editor and author of preface) Ted Berrigan, A Certain Slant of Sunlight, O Books (Oakland, CA), 1988. From a Work in Progress, DIA (New York, NY), 1989.
  27. [27]
    Alice Notley - Visiting Writers' Series LibGuide - Research Guides ...
    In 1972, Berrigan and Notley married and moved to Chicago, where they lived until 1976. She had two sons with him, the poets Edmund and Anselm Berrigan.
  28. [28]
    Ted Berrigan | The Poetry Foundation
    Berrigan died on July 4, 1983, at the age of 48. He had contracted hepatitis in 1975, and his liver was severely damaged. As Notley wrote, “He was, in a way, ...
  29. [29]
    TED BERRIGAN, POET; PUBLISHED MAGAZINE AND TAUGHT IN ...
    Jul 7, 1983 · Ted Berrigan, a poet, died Monday at his home in Greenwich Village. He was 48 years old. The cause of his death was not determined. Mr. Berrigan ...
  30. [30]
    Douglas Oliver - Wikipedia
    In 1970, the family moved to Paris where Oliver worked for Agence France-Presse. ... Eventually Oliver moved to New York and in February 1988 married Alice Notley ...Biography · References · Selected bibliography
  31. [31]
    Alice Notley and the Art of Not Giving a Damn | The New Yorker
    Apr 1, 2020 · Notley wrote extensively about pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing at a time when the poetry world was often inhospitable to women. Her ...Missing: family | Show results with:family
  32. [32]
    Edmund Berrigan | The Poetry Foundation
    Edmund Berrigan is the author of the poetry collections More Gone (City Lights, 2019), Glad Stone Children (Farfalla, 2008), and Disarming Matter (Owl Press, ...Missing: career | Show results with:career
  33. [33]
    Anselm Berrigan | The Poetry Foundation
    Author of eight books of poetry and numerous chapbooks, Anselm Berrigan earned a BA from SUNY Buffalo and an MFA from Brooklyn College.
  34. [34]
    About Anselm Berrigan | Academy of American Poets
    From 2003 to 2007, he served as artistic director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church. He is a cochair of writing at the Milton Avery Graduate School of ...Missing: career | Show results with:career
  35. [35]
    The New York School of Poets - Poetry Foundation
    The second generation included poets Alice Notley and her husband, Ted Berrigan; Bill Berkson; and Ron Padgett. During the second generation, members founded ...
  36. [36]
    Interview #40: Alice Notley - by Simon Warner
    Jul 18, 2025 · I fell in the Second Generation of the New York School, with Ted [Berrigan] and Joe [Brainard] and George Schneeman and they did collages ...
  37. [37]
    Ted Berrigan & Alice Notley – danowskipoetrylibrary2 - ScholarBlogs
    Later on, poet Alice Notley married Berrigan and they began an artistic and life collaboration; the couple had two sons, who have also become poets. The Tulsa ...Missing: World | Show results with:World
  38. [38]
    Early Works - Notley, Alice: Books - Amazon.com
    Early Works collects Alice Notley's first four out of print poetry collections, along with 80 pages of previously uncollected material.Missing: 1972-1975 | Show results with:1972-1975
  39. [39]
    Alice Notley's Magazines - Nick Sturm
    This digital publishing project makes available fully searchable PDF editions of the magazines edited by poet Alice Notley.
  40. [40]
    Publications by Alice Notley
    Publications by Alice Notley. Books of Poetry. Alma, or the Dead Women, Granary Books (New York, NY), 2006; Grave of Light - New and Selected Poems 1970 ...
  41. [41]
    The Poetics of Disobedience by Alice Notley
    The Poetics of Disobedience by Alice Notley. For a long time I've seen my job as bound up with the necessity of noncompliance with pressures, dictates ...
  42. [42]
    Jacket 18 - Libbie Rifkin reviews "Disobedience", by Alice Notley
    Aug 18, 2002 · Disobedience, by Alice Notley. Penguin Books, 2001, 272 pp., $18. I ... Poetics of Disobedience,' http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/notley ...
  43. [43]
    [PDF] Rare Books - International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
    Lyrics ... Alice Notley [1945 - ] her first book. Twenty-Four Sonnets (165 Meeting House Lane). [New York]:. C Press, [1971]. Notley's first collection from an ...<|separator|>
  44. [44]
    How Poets Use Punctuation as a Superpower and a Secret Weapon
    Dec 29, 2020 · ” Perhaps the most insistent example of foregrounded punctuation is the quotation marks in Alice Notley's “The Descent of Alette” (1990) ...
  45. [45]
    Alice Notley's Descent - jstor
    This article examines modernist genealogy in Alice Notley's 1992 poem The Descent of. Alette. Notley's central speaker finds herself riding on a nightmarish ...Missing: collage | Show results with:collage
  46. [46]
    Finding the Female Voice: Alice Notley's Poems and Collages
    Feb 7, 2005 · She repeatedly explores the relationship between collage and poetry in The Mysteries of Small Houses, examining what happens when you put words ...Missing: fragmented typographical disruption
  47. [47]
    Alice Notley 101 | The Poetry Foundation
    May 13, 2015 · Over the course of her career, Alice Notley has achieved something astounding: each of her nearly 30 books is different from the last one ...
  48. [48]
    Journey to the Land of No Return: Alice Notley's The Descent of ...
    Alice Notley's The Descent of Alette is a post-modern myth recalling both the shamanic crisis journey and ancient myths of underworld descent.
  49. [49]
    Alice Notley on Writing from Dreams - Literary Hub
    Oct 7, 2022 · Alice Notley on Writing from Dreams ... In the early nineties, after having worked for a couple of years on the writing of The Descent of Alette ...Missing: motifs influences
  50. [50]
    Interview of Alice Notley - OpenEdition Journals
    ... moved there with her second husband, the English poet, Doug Oliver (1937-2000), because Paris was where his professorial career was taking him. At that ...
  51. [51]
    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50834/at-night-the-states
  52. [52]
    At Night the States | The Poetry Foundation
    Copyright Credit: Alice Notley, “At Night the States” from Grave of Light © 2006 by Alice Notley and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.<|control11|><|separator|>
  53. [53]
    The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  54. [54]
    Disobedience by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  55. [55]
    Culture of One by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  56. [56]
    For the Ride by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  57. [57]
    Being Reflected Upon by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  58. [58]
    The Descent of Alette (Penguin Poets): Notley, Alice - Amazon.com
    160 pages. Language: English. Publisher: Penguin Books. Publication date: April 1, 1996. Grade level: 12 and up. Reading age: 18 years and up.
  59. [59]
    Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems 1970–2005», by Alice Notley
    In the work from Alma or The Dead Women from 2006 she uses a prose line and the syntax of the sentence (although drops the use of capitals at their ...Missing: elements | Show results with:elements
  60. [60]
    Alice Notley | Kenyon Review Conversations
    She has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and in 2007 received the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for Grave of Light.
  61. [61]
    Certain Magical Acts by Alice Notley - Penguin Random House
    In stock Free deliveryShe is the author of more than forty books of poetry, including Mysteries of Small Houses (Penguin, 1998, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a ...
  62. [62]
    https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/alice-notley/
  63. [63]
    Alice Notley - Griffin Poetry Prize
    She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Poetry. In the spring of 2001 she received an Academy Award ...<|separator|>
  64. [64]
    Alice Notley | FCA Grant Recipient - Foundation for Contemporary Arts
    Alice Notley began her career as an active poet in the New York poetry scene of the 1960s and 1970s. She is often identified with the Second Generation New York ...
  65. [65]
    Alice Notley Receives the Lenore Marshall Prize | Academy of ...
    The Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize was established in 1975 by the New Hope Foundation in memory of Lenore Marshall (1897–1971), a poet, novelist, essayist, and ...
  66. [66]
    Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize | Academy of American Poets
    Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous calendar year.
  67. [67]
    Alice Notley Wins $100,000 Poetry Prize - The New York Times
    May 6, 2015 · The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is presented annually to a living American poet for lifetime accomplishment.
  68. [68]
    Alice Notley, The Art of Poetry No. 116 - The Paris Review
    There are entire shelves occupied by the works of Ted Berrigan (1934–1983), her first husband and the father of her two sons, Anselm and Edmund (also poets); ...Missing: childhood | Show results with:childhood
  69. [69]
    In Defense of Poetic Nonsense, With a Character Who Shares Your ...
    Mar 3, 2020 · Alice Notley's new book-length epic, “For the Ride,” follows a figure struggling to figure out the terms of a strange new world.<|control11|><|separator|>
  70. [70]
    TRIBUTE: What have you learned from Alice Notley? - Zona Motel
    Jun 1, 2025 · Alice Notley taught me that the courage it takes to find your voice—your voices—is more than a craft choice: it's a social practice, a poethics, ...<|separator|>
  71. [71]
    Maggie Nelson Blunts her Teeth – The Greene Street Review
    Dec 13, 2021 · Steeped in lyric, experimentation, and queer form, she has birthed a whole microgenre of hybrid writing. ... She invokes Alice Notley's “poetics ...Missing: influence | Show results with:influence
  72. [72]
    Nick Sturm
    The uniquely hybrid project joined a thriving local small press ecosystem ... REMEMBRANCES OF ALICE NOTLEY: “'Always Being Myself': Remembering Alice Notley ...Alice Notley · Phoebe Light by Alice Notley · Alice Notley's Magazines · Yellow Press<|control11|><|separator|>
  73. [73]
    Suddenly Weightless | Online Only | n+1 | Mae Losasso
    Aug 28, 2025 · The poet Alice Notley died on May 17. But death was a place that she had visited before, a state with which she had long communed.
  74. [74]
    The Kind of Shaking that Keeps You Steady: Alice Notley (1945–2025)
    Jun 9, 2025 · Born in the Arizonan mining town of Bisbee, the acclaimed poet Alice Notley was raised in Needles, California, her 'official hometown', where ...Missing: biography | Show results with:biography