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Rae Armantrout

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Rae Armantrout is a famous American poet. She writes poems and prose, which is a style of writing like stories. Many people know her as part of the Language poets. This was a group of writers on the West Coast. Her work is very special because it feels musical. Some people call her work lyrical. She often writes about things close to home. She focuses on local life and the things we see every day.

Writing poetry involves making many small choices. Armantrout uses something called line breaks. A line break is when a line of text stops early. She learned that these breaks can create suspense. They can also change how a reader understands a word. This happens because of a short delay. She uses stanzas, or groups of lines, to build meaning. Sometimes she writes prose poems instead. She does this when she hears a narrator's voice in her head.

Armantrout's journey began in California. She was born in Vallejo on April 13, 1947. As a child, she lived near naval bases in San Diego. She was an only child in a working-class family. In 1965, she went to San Diego State University. At first, she wanted to study anthropology. Later, she changed her major to English and American literature. She also studied at the University of California, Berkeley.

Her career has brought her many big awards. She published her first book, Extremities, in 1978. Her book Versed won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. That same book also won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2009. She has published more than two dozen books. Some of her other books include Wobble and Money Shot. She also worked with other poets on a project called The Grand Piano. This was a collection of ten different writers.

Armantrout has shared her knowledge with many students. She was a professor at the University of California, San Diego. She taught poetry and poetics there for a long time. Now, she is retired and lives near Seattle. Her work appears in many famous collections. These include The Oxford Book of American Poetry. She has also been in The Best American Poetry many times. Her writing helps us see the world in a new way.

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