Portrait of Galway Kinnell

Birthday profile

Galway Kinnell

Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (died 2014)

Born
February 1, 1927
Died
October 28, 2014
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1927

About Galway Kinnell

Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. His dark poetry emphasized scenes and experiences in threatening, ego-less natural environments. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, Selected Poems and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright. From 1989 to 1993, he was poet laureate for the state of Vermont. Although exploring arguably darker themes, Kinnell has been regarded as being in line with Walt Whitman in his rejection of the idea of seeking personal fulfillment by escaping into the imaginary world. His most celebrated and commonly anthologized poems include the poem cycle The Book of Nightmares, as well as "St. Francis and the Sow", "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps", and "Wait". Kinnell attended Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts and graduated in 1944.

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

Galway Kinnell timeline

  1. Kinnell attended Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts and graduated in 1944.
  2. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, Selected Poems and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright.

The world when Galway Kinnell was born

Galway Kinnell was born in 1927. 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 1927

  • #1 song"My Blue Heaven" – Gene Austin
  • Top movieThe Jazz Singer (first talking picture)
  • Best-selling bookElmer Gantry – Sinclair Lewis

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBabe Ruth hits 60 home runs
  • Top headlineLindbergh completes first solo transatlantic flight
  • Technology milestoneThe Jazz Singer — first feature-length talking film
  • Defining fadDance marathons peak
  • Notable inventionPEZ candy dispensers
  • World population2.04 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population119.0M

1927 versus 2026

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

Measure19272026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,100$435,000
Average income$3,700$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population119.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. 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.