Frederick Seidel

Frederick Seidel, American poet

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Born: February 19, 1936
Age in 2026: 90
Zodiac sign: Pisces
Birth year: 1936

About Frederick Seidel

Frederick Seidel (born February 19, 1936) is an American poet. == Biography == Seidel was born to a family of Russian Jewish descent in St. Louis, Missouri in 1936. His family owned Seidel Coal and Coke, which supplied coal to the brewing industry in St. Louis, as well as a West Virginia mine. Seidel graduated from St. Louis Country Day School and earned his A.B. at Harvard University in 1957. Archibald MacLeish arranged for Seidel to take a leave of absence from Harvard so he could travel around Europe. In Europe Seidel spent time in Paris (where he took a virtual vow of silence for three months) and visited Oxford and Cambridge in England, where he met T. S. Eliot in London. Seidel corresponded with Ezra Pound in his youth and visited Pound at St.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

In 1962, his first book, Final Solutions, was chosen by a jury of Louise Bogan, Stanley Kunitz, and Robert Lowell for an award sponsored by the 92nd Street Y, with a $1,500 prize.
His collection, The Cosmos Poems, was commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History to celebrate the opening of the new Hayden Planetarium in 2000, and he won the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry in 2002.
After university Seidel moved with his wife to West Gloucester, Massachusetts, and then to Paris after Seidel became the Parisian editor of The Paris Review in 1961.

Frederick Seidel timeline

1961After university Seidel moved with his wife to West Gloucester, Massachusetts, and then to Paris after Seidel became the Parisian editor of The Paris Review in 1961.
1962In 1962, his first book, Final Solutions, was chosen by a jury of Louise Bogan, Stanley Kunitz, and Robert Lowell for an award sponsored by the 92nd Street Y, with a $1,500 prize.
2000His collection, The Cosmos Poems, was commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History to celebrate the opening of the new Hayden Planetarium in 2000, and he won the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry in 2002.

The world when Frederick Seidel was born

Frederick Seidel was born in 1936. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1936

#1 song"The Way You Look Tonight" – Fred Astaire
Top movieModern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
Top TV showBBC Television Service launches
Best-selling bookGone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympics
Top headlineJesse Owens dominates the Berlin Olympics
Technology milestoneBBC launches the world's first regular television service
Defining fadSwing dancing
Notable inventionSun glasses (mass-produced)
World population2.26 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population128.1M

1936 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Frederick Seidel's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1936	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,100	$435,000
Average income	$2,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.25	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	128.1M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.