 | This article possibly contains original research. (April 2024) |
Weldon Kees | |
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| Born | Harry Weldon Kees February 24, 1914 Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Disappeared | July 18, 1955 Marin County, California, U.S. |
| Status | Missing for 69 years, 4 months and 8 days |
| Alma mater | University of Nebraska (BA) University of Denver (MS) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1934–1955 |
| Known for | The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees, Fall Quarter, The Ceremony and other stories |
| Movement | American poetry, Beat Generation |
| Spouse | Ann (sep. 1954) |
Harry Weldon Kees (February 24, 1914 – disappeared July 18, 1955) was an American poet, painter, literary critic, novelist, playwright, jazz pianist, short story writer, and filmmaker. Despite his brief career, Kees is considered an important mid-twentieth-century poet of the Beat generation, and peer of John Berryman, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Lowell. His work has been immensely influential on subsequent generations of poets writing in English and other languages and his collected poems have been included in many anthologies. Harold Bloom lists the publication of Kees's first book The Last Man (1943) as an important event in the chronology of his textbook Modern American Poetry as well as a book worthy of his Western Canon.