About Harold Norse
Harold Norse (July 6, 1916 – June 8, 2009) was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat Generation, Norse was widely published and anthologized. == Life == Born Harold Rosen to an unmarried Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn. When his mother married, the family took the last name Albaum. Harold's stepfather was abusive. In the early 1950s, Harold came up with his new last name, Norse, by rearranging the letters in Rosen. Norse received his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1938, where he edited the literary magazine. He had planned to continue his education towards a PhD, but as his writing received recognition from others, he pursued a writing career instead. === Writing career === Norse met Chester Kallman in 1938, and then became a part of W. H. Auden's "inner circle" when Auden moved to the U.S. in 1939. (Kallman and Auden later became lifelong partners.) However, Norse soon found himself allied with William Carlos Williams, who rated Norse the 'best poet of [his] generation.' Norse saw Williams as a father figure who provided mentorship as Norse began to publish poetry.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.