Kocin, Paul J., et al. “Overview of the 12-14 March
1993 Superstorm.”Bulletin of the American Meteoro-
logical Society76, no. 2 (February, 1995): 165-182.
A meteorological description of the storm and its
many effects. Numerous charts and graphs.
Ludlum, David M. “March 1993.”Weatherwise46,
no. 3 (June/July, 1993): 43-47. Describes March
weather, emphasizing the storm and weather
records set by the blizzard.
O’Meara, Stephen James. “Storm of the Century.”
Odyssey13, no. 2 (February, 2004): 38-40. Excel-
lent summary of the storm and its effects from a
historical perspective.
Uccellini, Louis W., et al. “Forecasting the 12-14
March 1993 Superstorm.”Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society76, no. 2 (February, 1995):
183-199. Describes the effectiveness of meteorolo-
gists in predicting storm size and issuing warnings.
U.S. Department of Commerce. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. National
Weather Service.Superstorm of March 1993: March
12-14, 1993.Silver Springs, Md.: Author, 1994. Of-
ficial natural disaster survey report.
Wood, Chris. “A Nightmare Revisited.”Maclean’s106,
no. 13 (March 29, 1993): 20-21. Relates news of the
March, 1993, storm in Canada to the destruction
in Florida following Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Margaret A. Koger
See also Business and the economy in the United
States; Hurricane Andrew; Natural disasters; Okla-
homa tornado outbreak; Perfect Storm, the.
Strand, Mark
Identification American poet
Born April 11, 1934; Summerside, Prince Edward
Island, Canada
Though already an established American poet, Strand
achieved national and international prominence in the
1990’s, serving as U.S. poet laureate and winning the Pu-
litzer Prize in poetr y, among other honors and achieve-
ments.
Mark Strand’s poetry is informed by his deep appreci-
ation for and scholarship in art. In the 1990’s, his po-
etry expanded in both length and scope. His use of
artistic conventions regarding the use of abstraction
and negative space are often addressed by critics.
In 1990, Strand began his one-year term as poet
laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Con-
gress. That same year, he published his first book of
poetry in ten years,The Continuous Life, which won the
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry in 1992. In 1993,
Strand publishedDark Harbor; this was also the year
that he received the coveted Bollingen Prize for life-
time achievement in poetry. In 1998, Strand’s collec-
tion titledBlizzard of Onewas published, and it won the
Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Many poets and critics believe
this collection to be his best work, a culmination of
more than thirty years of publishing poetry.
Strand has also enjoyed a long college teaching
career and has a reputation as an excellent writing
teacher. In the early 1990’s, he taught at The Johns
Hopkins University, serving as the Elliot Coleman
Professor of Poetry. In 1998, he joined the faculty at
the Committee on Social Thought at the University
of Chicago.
As a well-respected poet and teacher, Strand was
chosen to editThe Best American Poetr y 1991,anan-
nual anthology featuring the poetry of new and sea-
soned American poets. He also editedThe Golden
Ecco Anthology: One Hundred Great Poems of the English
Languagein 1994. In his only non-poetry publishing
project of the 1990’s, Strand built upon his scholar-
ship in fine art, authoring a book of critical essays in
1994 titledHopper, focusing on the work of painter
Edward Hopper.
Strand’s poetry has influenced several genera-
tions of American poets, critics, and readers. His
spare, artistic style and accessible subject matter are
both appealing and groundbreaking. As his acco-
lades indicate, his contribution to American litera-
ture in the 1990’s was noteworthy, and arguably un-
matched by any of his peers.
Impact Mark Strand’s influence on American po-
etry reached its peak in the 1990’s. He began the de-
cade with his tenure as poet laureate, promoting po-
etry as an art form. The middle of the decade found
him promoting excellence in poetry by editing two
respected anthologies and being honored for his
lifetime achievements. He ended the decade by
achieving the pinnacle of poetic achievement, the
Pulitzer Prize. Few other American poets have been
so influential and accessible.
Further Reading
“Mark Strand.”Contemporar y Authors Online. New
York: Thomson Gale, 2005.The Nineties in America Strand, Mark 817