Jon Beck Shank
Jon Beck Shank (1919–1977) was a Mormon poet and a high school English teacher in New York City. Shank studied at Brigham Young University. While at BYU Shank collaborated with Davis Bitton on a theatrical production.
Shank was a native of Pennsylvania and a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1] Shank died in 1977.[2]
In 1945 Shank had a collection of his poems published by Alfred A. Knopf. He later taught high school English in New York City, among his students was Roger Rosenblatt, who later wrote an essay praising Mormon artists in which he admitted that this view was largely a result of his association with Shank.[3]
Another of Shank's students was Anne Waldman who has mentioned him being a scholar of the works of Wallace Stevens.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton. The Mormon Experience. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979) p. 332
- ^ "Jon Beck Shank (1919-1977) - Find a Grave".
- ^ "Three books on visual images in the history of the Church" by Davis Bitton, BYU Studies 36.4. Accessed August 12, 2023.
- ^ Waldman's autiobiography