182 Poetry for Students
Author Biography.
Henry Splawn Taylor’s knowledge of rural life and
the natural world is rooted in his own experience.
Born in Lincoln, Virginia, in 1942 to Thomas Ed-
ward and Mary Splawn Taylor, Taylor grew up on
a large farm with his parents and three sisters. His
father was an educator, farmer, and horse trainer,
and Taylor himself developed an early love for rid-
ing horses. This passion is evident in many of Tay-
lor’s poems, especially those in The Flying Change,
his 1986 Pulitzer Prize winning volume. Taylor
sometimes refers to his childhood in the country as
“Edenic.”
Taylor was also blessed to grow up in a cul-
turally rich environment. Neighbors of the Taylors
included the painter Arshile Gorky, the guitarist
Carlos Montoya, and the photographer Marion Post
Wolcott, all of whom socialized with Taylor’s fam-
ily. He not only learned about music and art from
these neighbors but he developed a positive image
of what an artist was as well. Taylor’s parents,
whom Taylor referred to as Tom and Mary even
when he was a child, were passionate about the arts.
His father introduced him to the poems of Edward
Arlington Robinson, and in the ninth grade Taylor
became absorbed in the stories of Ambrose Bierce.
Perhaps more than anyone, though, Taylor has been
influenced by the storytelling and conversation of
his grandfather, Henry B. Taylor.
Taylor attended public schools until the ninth
grade, when he switched to George School, a
Quaker facility his grandmother, sisters, and
cousins also attended the school at one time or an-
other. It was at George School that Taylor devel-
oped his desire to be a writer. After graduating high
school, Taylor enrolled at the University of Vir-
ginia. There he became fast friends with Richard
Diller and Kelly Cherry, who have themselves gone
on to become well-respected writers. He also met
the writer George Garrett, who joined the Univer-
sity of Virginia’s faculty in 1962. Garret is both
mentor and friend to Taylor, and one of his
strongest admirers. Upon graduating with a bache-
lor’s degree in English in 1965, Taylor enrolled in
the M.A. program in creative writing from Hollins
College, from which he graduated in 1966. For
most of his professional life Taylor has worked as
an editor and teacher, serving as associate editor of
Magill’s Literary Annual,and teaching at a num-
ber of universities, including Roanoke College, the
University of Utah, and the American University
in Washington, D.C., where he is currently Pro-
fessor of English.
Landscape with Tractor
Henry Taylor
