Byron Vazakas (September 24, 1905, in New York City – September 30, 1987, in Reading, Pennsylvania) was an American poet, whose career extended from the modernist era well into the postmodernist period; nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1947.
Life Byron A. Vazakas was the son of Alfred Vazakas, a Greek-born linguist who emigrated sometime before 1900 and established a language school in Herald Square, and Margaret Keffer, a young woman who grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania,"Byron Vazakas." Contemporary Authors Online Detroit: Gale, 2001. Literature Resources from Gale. Gale is the daughter of a former Pennsylvania state legislator, Rep. Aaron T. C. Keffer, a descendant of Henry Clay. There were two younger Vazakas children, Alexander (1906) and Donald (1912). Byron had strong memories of New York City during the years he called his happy “Edwardian childhood.” Both Byron and Alexander (Alex) attended a progressive Montessori School. Tragedy struck during Christmas week 1912 when Alfred Vazakas died suddenly of pneumonia and the family was left destitute.
Alfred Vazakas’ brother Alexander, a professor at the University of Chicago, moved the family to an apartment in Chicago, but within a few weeks, another disaster occurred. A fire destroyed the building and all their possessions. Margaret Vazakas then brought her family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to be near members of her family. Donald went to live with relatives while Margaret Vazakas earned a living clerking in local department stores. Byron and Alex attended St. Mary’s Parochial School. Although he served as an altar boy, Byron rebelled against the school’s strict discipline and dropped out after the eighth grade. He never returned to a formal school. From an early age, however, Byron read avidly and showed an interest in writing.
In 1922 Byron and his family moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, to live with his widowed grandmother. Byron continued to live with his mother at various locations near City Park until her death in December 1940. At first, Byron worked in a clothing store and later collected rents for the Reading Company. After he left that job, out of boredom and frustration, his family never pressured him to seek employment, even during the Great Depression.
From this time on, Vazakas concentrated on “the 3 R’s” that dominated his life—“reading, 'riting, and roaming.” He read widely and became well acquainted with classical music. A close friendship developed with William Baziotes, another young Reading man of Greek parentage who later achieved fame as an abstract expressionist painter. Vazakas introduced Baziotes to Baudelaire and the Symbolists; Baziotes cultivated Vazakas’ tastes in art. The friendship endured for 15 years until the two drifted into different worlds. In later years, Vazakas credited Baziotes with being a formative influence on his artistic development.
Vazakas established himself as a writer in Reading, but only a small number of people knew that he wrote poetry. These were the members of the Galleon Writers’ Guild, a group that produced 6 issues of a local literary magazine called "The Galleon: A Journal of Literary Achievement." Vazakas’ first published poem, a 5-line piece entitled “Grief,” appeared in the first issue in November 1934, and five other poems, including one published anonymously and two under the pseudonym "Mernos," and one short story appeared in other issues. In 1935 two other poems were published in a small literary magazine called "The Bard." By this time Vazakas had written 1,500 poems. All but 22 of them were destroyed at his request when Vazakas said that he had found his true poetic voice. When discussing his career in later years, Vazakas never mentioned either "The Galleon" or "The Bard" or the large body of early work.
From 1936 to 1942, Vazakas’ prose writing appeared in the "Reading Times" and the "Historical Review of Berks County." Although he never publicly claimed authorship, evidence is clear from a newspaper report that Vazakas wrote a 16-page pamphlet, "The Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania: Its History and Purpose," ca. 1941. Statements in its text also establish Vazakas as the author of a more ambitious work, "The History of Reading Hospital," published in 1942. As with his early poetry, Vazakas later omitted any reference to these extensively researched pieces of writing. More satisfying was the acceptance of individual poems he submitted to periodicals such as "American Poetry Journal."
During these years Vazakas also reached out to seek the acquaintance of poets he admired. He wrote to, and received replies from, fellow Reading native Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, and William Carlos Williams. Williams became enthusiastic about a stanzaic technique in Vazakas’ poetry that he considered innovative. He helped Vazakas find a publisher for his first book, Transfigured Night and wrote the introduction for the volume, which appeared in 1946. All 50 of the pieces had previously been published in 15 periodicals, including "New Mexico Quarterly Review" and "Poetry." In 1947 Vazakas was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the book. When the award went to Robert Lowell, Vazakas said, “He deserved it. But I did, too.”
In December 1945, a high point for Vazakas while awaiting publication of "Transfigured Night" was a joint reading with Tennessee Williams in the YMHA Poetry Center in New York. The following year Vazakas moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he lived for the next 16 years, although always maintaining close ties with Reading. He enjoyed an association with the literary group centered on Archibald MacLeish that included John Ciardi and Richard Wilbur. Vazakas continued writing poetry and having it published in an increasing number of periodicals including Poetry, Poetry Magazine, Crossing Section, Western Review, and some anthologies. He gave occasional lectures and readings at Harvard University and one at Brown University. On four occasions he received fellowships to summer colonies at Breadloaf, VT; Yaddo, NY; and McDowell, NH. His second volume, The Equal Tribunals, was published in 1962. The following year, on the recommendation of Archibald MacLeish, he won an Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship for 1962-63, renewed for 1963-64, and went to England. He visited Paris and Majorca, but chiefly spent his time in southern England.
Vazakas returned to spend the rest of his life quietly in Reading, PA. He lived frugally in the house provided by his brother Alex. His days were spent roaming the derelict parts of Reading and writing poetry at a table in the Reading Public Library. He saw the publication of two more volumes, The Marble Manifesto ( 1966) and Nostalgias For A House Of Cards (1970). Five additional typescript volumes, each containing 50 poems, as did his four published books, remained ready for a publisher that Vazakas never succeeded in finding. For many years he tried unsuccessfully to earn grants and fellowships and suffered frustration at the lack of recognition. He was, however, honored in Reading as its unofficial poet laureate. He gave numerous well-received readings, some as part of the Poetry in the Schools program given in high schools in Berks and surrounding counties. He was the subject of some local newspaper features. In May 1981 Albright College awarded him an honorary degree as Doctor of Humanities.
Vazakas died in Reading Hospital on September 30, 1987, after a brief illness, a few days after his 82nd birthday. He is buried in Gethsemane Cemetery, Laureldale, PA. The tombstone, placed by Byron’s devoted brother Alex, reads “Night Transfigured.”
Byron's two brothers, Alex and Donald died in 1996 and 2000. Donald's son, Tom currently resides in San Diego with his two children Ben and Saul Vazakas.
Vazakas’ papers were organized by his literary executor, Professor Manfred Zitzman, of Albright College. They were willed to Albright College, where they are held in the Special Collections, Gingrich Library. Besides the five volumes of poetry and other uncollected poetry, the papers yielded 22 plays, three novels, some short stories and articles, and numerous sketches. Vazakas also left packets of all the versions of many poems, the first one on the bottom and the final revision on the top. Following the death of Alex Vazakas, additional materials were discovered in a storage unit in the Highlands, Reading, PA, where Alex last resided.
Works
Published books of poetry
Unpublished books of poetry All are in typescript in the Vazakas Papers, Special Collections, Gingrich Library, Albright College, Reading, PA. Listing appears in the intended order. The Accordions Of Paris The Transient Of Evening The Alternate Dream Intruder In The Painted Air Arsonist Of Memory
Published prose publications “Of Karl Schurz Exhibition.” Reading Times, 5 September 1936: 11. "Wallace Stevens: Reading Poet.” Historical Review of Berks County, July 1938: 111-113. "The Automobile Industry in Reading.” Historical Review of Berks County, April 1939: 66-74. “The Nolen Planning Commission.” Historical Review of Berks County, October 1940: 5-8. “The German Element in Berks County, Past and Present.” Festbuch: Sechzehntes S’a’ngerfest der Deutschen S’Angerverlinigung Von Pennsylvania. Reading, PA, 1940. The Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania: Its History and Purpose. Reading, PA: Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, ca. 1941. History of the Reading Hospital: 1867-1942. Reading, PA: Reading Eagle Press, 1942. “Eleven Contemporary Poets.” New Mexico Quarterly Summer 1952: 213-229. "Three Modern Old Masters: Moore—Stevens—Williams." New Mexico Quarterly Winter 1952: 431-44. “Wallace Stevens: An Anecdotal Memoir.” This Month in Reading Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) Centenary Edition Vol. 16, No. 3, March 1979: 5-7.
Unpublished works The Vazakas Papers, Special Collections, Gingrich Library, Albright College, Reading, PA. Uncollected poems in typescript, some marked "unfinished" 22 plays in typescript 3 novels in typescript--Hometown, The Visitors, The Key Miscellaneous sketches
Awards Nominee for Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1947 Summer fellowships: Breadloaf, VT; Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY; McDowell, Peterborough, NH Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship, 1962–63; renewed 1963-64 Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship Poetry in the Schools Program, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Pennsylvania State Department of Education 1972 and 1973 Honorary Degree as Doctor of Humanities, Albright College, May 1981
Description of Vazakas' Poetry Byron Vazakas described his poetry as “organic poetry” that derives from “the association between the artist’s life and his work,” so that poetry serves as “an extension of the personality.” He reinforced this statement by maintaining that “Unhappily, the connection between my life and my work will probably not be recognized except posthumously.”
Shaping influences
Vazakas’ childhood introduction to literature came from his father, reading aloud the poetry of Byron and the works of Poe. Vazakas’ formal education ended with the eighth grade. After that, he was free to read whatever he liked. He absorbed T. S. Eliot and the Imagists, but his inclinations led him to the Symbolist poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Valéry. He was deeply affected by Charles Baudelaire and Rainer Maria Rilke. Along with reading, he listened to classical music and studied art, guided to a great extent by his Reading friend, William Baziotes, who later gained fame as an abstract expressionist.