List of anarchist poets
Encyclopedia
This is a list of anarchists
poets
, examples of their published work, and the source material in which their poetry is found.
Believing that the State maintains its authority through the monopolization of violence, an anarchist is a person who rejects any form of coercive government
(cf.
"state
") and supports its elimination. Anarchism
can be summarised as the belief that all forms of coercive rulership
are undesirable and should be abolished.
According to the Institute for Anarchist Studies, Anarchism
asserts that "it is necessary and possible to overthrow coercive and exploitative social relationships, and replace them with egalitarian, self-managed, and cooperative social forms. Anarchism thus [gives] new depth to the long struggle for freedom."
The Institute for Anarchist Studies explains that "anarchist critique has widened into a more generalized condemnation of domination and hierarchy. This has made it possible to understand and challenge a variety of social relationships -- such as patriarchy, racism, and the devastation of nature, to mention a few -- while confronting political and economic hierarchies. Given this, the ideal of a free society expanded to include sexual liberation, cultural diversity, and ecological harmony, as well as directly democratic institutions."
Although "anarchism's great refusal of all forms of domination renders it historically flexible, politically comprehensive, and consistently critical", the Institute for Anarchist Studies concludes that "anarchism has yet to acquire the rigor and complexity needed to comprehend and transform the present."
This list is biased in favor of poets who have self-identified as anarchists. Poets who are popularly considered "anarchic", but have not specifically self-identified as anarchists, are not included.
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
poets
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, examples of their published work, and the source material in which their poetry is found.
Believing that the State maintains its authority through the monopolization of violence, an anarchist is a person who rejects any form of coercive government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
(cf.
Cf.
cf., an abbreviation for the Latin word confer , literally meaning "bring together", is used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide similar or different information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly contexts, such as in academic or legal texts...
"state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
") and supports its elimination. Anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
can be summarised as the belief that all forms of coercive rulership
Rulership
Rulership may refer to:*Astrological rulership*Government...
are undesirable and should be abolished.
According to the Institute for Anarchist Studies, Anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
asserts that "it is necessary and possible to overthrow coercive and exploitative social relationships, and replace them with egalitarian, self-managed, and cooperative social forms. Anarchism thus [gives] new depth to the long struggle for freedom."
The Institute for Anarchist Studies explains that "anarchist critique has widened into a more generalized condemnation of domination and hierarchy. This has made it possible to understand and challenge a variety of social relationships -- such as patriarchy, racism, and the devastation of nature, to mention a few -- while confronting political and economic hierarchies. Given this, the ideal of a free society expanded to include sexual liberation, cultural diversity, and ecological harmony, as well as directly democratic institutions."
Although "anarchism's great refusal of all forms of domination renders it historically flexible, politically comprehensive, and consistently critical", the Institute for Anarchist Studies concludes that "anarchism has yet to acquire the rigor and complexity needed to comprehend and transform the present."
This list is biased in favor of poets who have self-identified as anarchists. Poets who are popularly considered "anarchic", but have not specifically self-identified as anarchists, are not included.
B
- Hugo BallHugo BallHugo Ball was a German author, poet and one of the leading Dada artists.Hugo Ball was born in Pirmasens, Germany and was raised in a middle-class Catholic family. He studied sociology and philosophy at the universities of Munich and Heidelberg...
- Fanya BaronFanya BaronFanya Anisimovna Baron was a Russian anarchist revolutionary who is rumoured to have assassinated the head of the Okhrana . She lived in America from 1915 to 1917 when she returned to her homeland to build a post-revolutionary society...
- Toma BebićToma BebicToma Bebić was a Croatian multidisciplinary artist.During his life he worked as a navy officer, teacher, secretary, journalist, court distraint, football coach, and mechanic...
- Julian BeckJulian BeckJulian Beck was an American actor, director, poet, and painter.-Early life:Beck was born in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan in New York City, the son of Mabel Lucille , a teacher, and Irving Beck, a businessman. He briefly attended Yale University, but dropped out to pursue writing and...
(1925–1985): American actor and founder of The Living TheatreThe Living TheatreThe Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group still existing in the U.S...
. - Jens BjørneboeJens BjørneboeJens Ingvald Bjørneboe was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society and Western civilization on the whole...
- Tony Blackplait
- Luther Blissett (nom de plume)Luther Blissett (nom de plume)Luther Blissett is a multiple-use name, an "open reputation" informally adopted and shared by hundreds of artists and activists all over Europe and the Americas since 1994...
- Balsa BrkovicBalša BrkovicBalša Brković is a Montenegrin writer, essayist and theatre critic....
- Raegan ButcherRaegan ButcherRaegan Butcher is an American poet and singer. He is known for his association with the anarchist collective CrimethInc., who published his first two books of poetry, Stone Hotel and Rusty String Quartet. According to a CrimethInc. biography, Butcher was born in Seattle, Washington and moved to...
C
- John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
(1912–1992): American composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. Collections of poetry include Anarchy (1988). - Monty CantsinMonty CantsinMonty Cantsin is a multiple-use name that anyone can adopt, but has close ties to Neoism. Monty Cantsin was originally conceived as an "open pop star." In a philosophy anticipating that of free software and open source, anyone should perform in his name and thus contribute to and participate in his...
- Lev ChernyiLev ChernyiPável Dimítrievich Turchanínov , known by the pseudonym Lev Chernyi , was a Russian anarchist theorist, activist and poet, and a leading figure of the Third Russian Revolution. His early thought was individualist, rejecting anarcho-communism as a threat to individual liberty...
- Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist writer and feminist. She was a prolific writer and speaker, opposing the state, marriage, and the domination of religion in sexuality and women's lives. She began her activist career in the freethought movement...
(1866–1912): American activist and one of the earliest anarchists without adjectivesAnarchism without adjectivesAnarchism without adjectives , in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an unhyphenated form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as communist, collectivist, mutualist, or individualist. For others, .....
. Works include the poem Bastard Born, and The Worm Turns (1900), a collection of poetry. - Arthur CravanArthur CravanArthur Cravan was known as a pugilist, a poet, a larger-than-life character, and an idol of the Dada and Surrealism movements. He was the second son of Otho Holland Lloyd and Hélène Clara St. Clair of Armenian desent. His brother, Otho, was born in 1885...
- cris cheekCris CheekCris Cheek is a British poet, artist, interdisciplinary performer and academic currently resident at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Born in London in 1955, he lived and worked there until the early 1990s. One early influence was working alongside Bob Cobbing at the Poetry Society and the...
- Miloš CrnjanskiMiloš CrnjanskiMiloš Crnjanski was a poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, and a diplomat...
E
- David EdelstadtDavid EdelstadtDavid Edelstadt was a Jewish-Russian-American anarchist poet of Yiddish language.- Biography :...
(1866–1892): Russian anarchistAnarchismAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
poet of the Yiddish language. Works include Albert Parsons and Louis Lingg. - Jon EliaJon EliaJaun Elia was a notable Pakistani Urdu poet, philosopher, biographer and scholar. He was widely praised for his unique style of writing. He was the brother of renowned journalist and psychoanalyst Rais Amrohvi and journalist and world-renowned philosopher Syed Muhammad Taqi, and husband of famous...
K
- Nicholas Karavatos (American, b.1962), author of No Asylum (Arcata: Amendment Nine, 2009)
- Tuli KupferbergTuli KupferbergNaphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg was an American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs.-Biography:...
M
- Jackson MacLow
- John Henry MackayJohn Henry MackayJohn Henry Mackay was an individualist anarchist, thinker and writer. Born in Scotland and raised in Germany, Mackay was the author of Die Anarchisten and Der Freiheitsucher . Mackay was published in the United States in his friend Benjamin Tucker's magazine, Liberty...
(1864–1933): German individualist anarchist, philosopher, writer, homosexual, and exponent of Max StirnerMax StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...
. Works of poetry include Anarchy. - Nestor MakhnoNestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
(1888–1934): UkrainianUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
anarcho-communistAnarchist communismAnarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers' councils with...
, military strategist, and commander of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of UkraineRevolutionary Insurrectionary Army of UkraineThe Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine , popularly called Makhnovshchina, less correctly Makhnovchina, and also known as the Black Army, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian and Crimean peasants and workers under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno during the...
. Works of poetry include Summons. - Erich MühsamErich MühsamErich Mühsam was a German-Jewish anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic....
P
- Kenneth PatchenKenneth PatchenKenneth Patchen was an American poet and novelist. Though he denied any direct connection, Patchen's work and ideas regarding the role of artists paralleled those of the Dadaists, the Beats, and Surrealists...
- Benjamin PéretBenjamin PéretBenjamin Péret was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism.-Biography:...
- Utah PhillipsUtah PhillipsBruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was a labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet and the "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest". He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist...
- Pi OPi OП. O. is an Australian, working class, anarchist, poet of Greek origin.Born in Katerini, Greece, П. O. came to Australia with his family around 1954. After time in Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre, the family moved to the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.П. O...
(П О) - Eugène Edine PottierEugène Edine PottierEugène Edme Pottier was a French revolutionary socialist, poet, and transport worker.Pottier was elected a member of the Paris municipal council - the Paris Commune, in March 1871...
- Manuel González PradaManuel González PradaJose Manuel de los Reyes González de Prada y Ulloa was a Peruvian politician and anarchist, literary critic and director of the National Library of Peru...
- Diane di PrimaDiane di PrimaDiane Di Prima is an American poet.-Early life:Di Prima was born in Brooklyn. She attended Hunter College High School and Swarthmore College before dropping out to be a poet in Manhattan...
R
- Dachine RainerDachine RainerDachine Rainer was an American born English writer.Dachine Rainer was born Sylvia Newman in New York on January 13, 1921, the daughter of Polish Jews, and grew up in Manhattan. As a child her political views were influenced by the executions in 1927 of the Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and...
- Herbert ReadHerbert ReadSir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism, and was strongly influenced by proto-existentialist thinker Max Stirner....
(1893–1968): English poet and criticCriticA critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
of literatureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and artArtArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
. Works include "A Song for the Spanish Anarchists, The Death of Kropotkin, and Poetry & Anarchism (1938) - Kenneth RexrothKenneth RexrothKenneth Rexroth was an American poet, translator and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement...
- Lola RidgeLola RidgeLola Ridge was an anarchist poet and an influential editor of avant-garde, feminist, and Marxist publications best remembered for her long poems and poetic sequences...
- Arthur RimbaudArthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
- Penny RimbaudPenny RimbaudJeremy John Ratter , better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977.-Biography:Rimbaud Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943,...
S
- Lucía Sánchez SaornilLucía Sánchez SaornilLucía Sánchez Saornil , was a Spanish poet, militant anarchist and feminist. She is best known as one of the founders of Mujeres Libres and served in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista .-Early life:Raised by her impoverished, widowed father, Lucía...
- Louis ScutenaireLouis ScutenaireLouis Scutenaire was a poet, anarchist, surrealist and civil servant. Born Jean Émile Louis Scutenaire in Ollignies, Belgium; died in Brussels.-Life:...
- Karl ShapiroKarl ShapiroKarl Jay Shapiro was an American poet. He was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946.-Biography:...
- Monica SjööMonica SjööMonica Sjöö, , was a Swedish painter, writer and a radical anarcho/eco-feminist who was influential in the Goddess movement. She first came to Britain in the late 1950th and eventually settled in Bristol where she lived for many years, before she died of cancer...
- Mikey SmithMikey SmithMichael Smith, usually referred to as Mikey Smith , was a Jamaican dub poet. Along with Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Mutabaruka, he was one of the most well-known dub poets. In 1978, Michael Smith represented Jamaica at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba. His album Mi Cyaan Believe...
- Gary SnyderGary SnyderGary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
External links
- Parser: New Poetry and Poetics, a journal of anarchist poetry and poetics
- Poetry by Voltairine de Cleyre