Weldon Kees

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Weldon Kees
(1914-1955)

• By Kaitlin M.
• April 13, 2003

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Weldon Kees, "like a matinee idol in the manner
of Tyrone Power," c. 1954. Photos William Heick
http//mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/keesgall.htm

http//mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/keesgall.htm
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Weldon Kees

• Weldon Kees was born on February 24,1914 in
  Beatrice, Nebraska. His parents, Sarah and John
  Kees, were owners of a hardware factory in
  Beatrice. As a child (1920s), Kees was very
  interested in music, art, and writing. He even
  published his own movie magazines in which he
  portrayed his poetry, writing, and facts about
  some of his favorite Hollywood stars.

http//mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/kees.htm
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In 1931, Weldon Kees attended Doane College in
Nebraska in search of courses in creative
writing. Kees didnt find the courses he wanted
at this college, so
http//www.doane.edu/
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Kees went on to attend the University of Missouri
where he continued to search for the courses in
creative writing that he craved. When Kees
didnt find what he was looking for here
http//www.missouri.edu/index.cfm
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he went to the University of Nebraska where he
was taught by Lowry C Wimberly, who was the
editor of Prairie Schooner. It was from this
college that Kees graduated from in 1935.
http//itg.unl.edu/training/resources/photos/picts
/city/archhall4.gif
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http//www.unl.edu/schooner/psmain.htm
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• 1926
• The Beach
• The Bell From Europe
• Colloquy
• Covering Two Years
• Dead March
• A Distance From The Sea
• The Doctor Will Return
• The End Of The Library
• The Furies
• Interregnum

• Late Evening Song
• La Vita Nuova
• A Musician's Wife
• A Pastiche For Eve
• Robinson
• Round
• The Smiles Of The Bathers
• The Speakers
• The Upstairs Room
• Year's End    

Weldon Kees Poems
http//plagiarist.com/poetry/?aid129
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(No Transcript)
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In 1943, Kees first collection of poems, The
Last Man, was published, followed by his second
collection, The Fall of Magicians, in 1947. In
1951, Weldon Kees moved to California where he
began to play and study jazz piano. He also
added his photographs as illustrations for a book
which he wrote with Dr. Jurgen Ruesch, who was a
University of California psychiatrist. The book
was called Nonverbal Communication and it was
published in 1956. His collection of fiction,
Ceremony and Other Stories, first appeared in
1983, five years after his death, and his final
book, Poems 1947-1954, was published in 1954.
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In his introduction to Kees Collected Poems,
Donald Justice, another famous poet, called Kees
"among the three or four best of his generation."
He went on to say that "Kees is original in one
of the few ways that matter he speaks to us in a
voice or, rather, in a particular tone of voice
which we have never heard before."
http//www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/poets/poets.c
fm?prmID744
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In the mid 1950s, Kees became more and more
depressed and in 1952, he divorced his wife. On
July 18, 1955, his car was found abandoned on the
approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. Kees is
believed to have committed suicide after he had
told a friend that he wanted to start a new life
in Mexico and had also suggested that he might
kill himself. Although Kees is gone, his poetry
will continue to live on.
http//www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/poets/poets.c
fm?prmID744
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Works Cited
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THE END